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Speaker 1: I loved Harlem from the first time I set foot

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Speaker 1: there more than fifty years ago. It embodied all the

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Speaker 1: things I love about New York City in America, with

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Speaker 1: its vibrant culture, rich history, and deep artistic roots that

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Speaker 1: embraced both the jazz Age and the wonderful Harlem Renaissance.

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Speaker 1: But to me, nothing characterizes Harlem, at least today more

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Speaker 1: than the food, with world renowned restaurants offering a type

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Speaker 1: of cooking that nurtures the soul as much as the body.

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Speaker 1: So why am I telling you this? Because today I

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Speaker 1: am truly delighted to be joined by someone who was

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Speaker 1: born and bred and, as she says, buttered in Harlem

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Speaker 1: and has played a crucial role in making the neighborhood

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Speaker 1: what it is today, someone whose mouth watering meals have

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Speaker 1: earned the unofficial title of America's Queen of Comfort Food.

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Speaker 1: Melboy Wilson has always known she wanted to stay close

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Speaker 1: to the community she grew up in and create a

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Speaker 1: dining experience for her neighbors that would make them feel

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Speaker 1: like they were coming home for a good meal. After

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Speaker 1: working at the legendary Sylvia's Rested in Harlem and launching

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Speaker 1: the famous Sunday gospel brunch. There, she decided it was

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Speaker 1: time to branch out on her own. Her first restaurant, Melbourne's,

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Speaker 1: opened its doors on A hundred fourteen Street in two

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Speaker 1: thousand five. Since then, it's become a hotspot for residents, tourists,

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Speaker 1: and celebrities alike. Her menu offering Southern cuisine like fried chicken,

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Speaker 1: egg now waffles, collared greens, macroni, and cheese. They're all

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Speaker 1: country food staples to take me back to growing up

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Speaker 1: in Arkansas, where home cooking was an expression of love

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Speaker 1: for your family, friends, and neighbors. Melba has repeatedly expressed

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Speaker 1: her love for her neighbors and those who depend on

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Speaker 1: the jobs her restaurants provide by looking out for them.

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Speaker 1: Last year, Melbolle's helped establish a mobile COVID vaccinatee and

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Speaker 1: site for Harlem residents and launched the Melbourne's COVID nineteen

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Speaker 1: Employee Relief Fund to provide financial relief to dozens of

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Speaker 1: wrestaurant workers who found themselves out of work. The restaurant

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Speaker 1: also provided meals the thousands of frontline and other essential workers.

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Speaker 1: Melboa has lent her time and services to support many

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Speaker 1: good causes. Including Alzheimer's research, diabetes relief, literacy, and senior

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Speaker 1: citizen efforts, and she's currently serving on New York City's

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Speaker 1: COVID Recovery and Health Equity Task Force. So while she's

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Speaker 1: known around the country from TV appearances and her own cookbook,

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Speaker 1: Melburne's American Comfort, it's also the way she nourishes her

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Speaker 1: community that to me makes her one of Harlem's true

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Speaker 1: points of pride. Melba, thanks for being here today, Mr President.

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Speaker 1: It is such an honor to be here with you today.

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Speaker 1: You are one of my heroes and definitely a huge

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Speaker 1: supporter not just of our country but as well of Harlem.

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Speaker 1: So thank you for having me. Thank you, I think

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Speaker 1: for the benefit of people who maybe don't share the

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Speaker 1: same roots entirely. When you say you were born bread

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Speaker 1: and buttered and Harlem, what does that mean to you?

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Speaker 1: What was it like growing up here? Wow? Well I was.

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Speaker 1: I was born in Harlem Hospital. We lived on a

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Speaker 1: hundred and forty street in Harlem between Lenox Avenue and

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Speaker 1: Seventh Avenue, also known as Adam Clayton Powell. We also

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Speaker 1: lived on a hundred and thirty seven between Lennox and seven,

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Speaker 1: right around a corner from the Renaissance ballroom. So when

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Speaker 1: I say I was born bread and buttered, bread because

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Speaker 1: being raised here, but also buttered because Melba tells it's

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Speaker 1: a horrible pun, a really bad joke. But that's where

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Speaker 1: the buttered cun comes in. But when I also say buttered,

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Speaker 1: it means that I was groomed here. Harlem's in my roots,

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Speaker 1: It's in my spirit, Harlem is in my soul. So

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Speaker 1: much of who I am today is because of the

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Speaker 1: life lessons that I've learned from my community. When did

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Speaker 1: you decide you wanted to be a chef? How old

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Speaker 1: were you? Well? Growing up in Harlem, every summer, what

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Speaker 1: we did is the day that school ended. The next day,

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Speaker 1: my mom, dad, brother's sister, and I would all pack

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Speaker 1: into the car and we would take the ten eleven

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Speaker 1: hour drive to South Carolina, which is where my parents

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Speaker 1: are from. And every time, the first thing I did

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Speaker 1: when we arrived in South Carolina was greeted my grandparents

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Speaker 1: with warm hugs. But then it was to that farm.

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Speaker 1: That's where we went, and my grandmother knew that I

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Speaker 1: looked forward to going to the farm with her, where

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Speaker 1: we picked greens, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, and watching my grandmother

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Speaker 1: gather all of these ingredients and then take them into

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Speaker 1: the kitchen, singing normally church hymns. We would cook together,

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Speaker 1: and whether I was snapping peas, peeling potatoes, cannon tomatoes,

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Speaker 1: I loved every aspect of the magic that we created

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Speaker 1: in our kitchen. It was then that I actually first

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Speaker 1: fell in love with cooking, with food and with the

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Speaker 1: power of food. See, every important event in our family

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Speaker 1: happened over food. It happened over a meal, whether it

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Speaker 1: was the birth of a new baby or the one

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Speaker 1: birthday and celebrating my grandmother or my great grandmother, whether

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Speaker 1: it was a marriage or unfortunately a repast. I noticed

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Speaker 1: that food was at the center of everything that was

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Speaker 1: important to us. So I knew I wanted to be

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Speaker 1: a part of the magic. I wanted to be a

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Speaker 1: part of that magic called feeding people's souls, but feeding

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Speaker 1: their spirits as well. Wow, you brought up a lot

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Speaker 1: of old memories to me. I had. My grandmother's brother

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Speaker 1: and his wife were sort of our family magnet when

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Speaker 1: I was a little boy in Hope, and we all

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Speaker 1: had to learn to shell peace and do whatever else

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Speaker 1: was necessary. I personally favored turning the crank on the

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Speaker 1: ice cream machine the most because I knew what was

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Speaker 1: at the other end of that effort. Yeah, but I

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Speaker 1: think that when you were talking about being on your

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Speaker 1: grandparents farm and how it's amazing how many people today

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Speaker 1: who have never been on around a farm, of never

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Speaker 1: planet a garden, who have never experienced this, I think

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Speaker 1: sometimes they spend an unlimited number of days ordering food

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Speaker 1: out and having delivered, having no real clue about what

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Speaker 1: else is involved. And one of the things that always

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Speaker 1: impressed me is that you seem to want the people

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Speaker 1: who dined at your restaurants and buy your book to

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Speaker 1: know that that food in front of them is part

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Speaker 1: of a larger fabric of community that we should nurture

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Speaker 1: and respect. That is so true. Um, you know, food

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Speaker 1: was our entertainment. We come from very, very humble beginnings,

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Speaker 1: and so it wasn't about going to the movies or

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Speaker 1: taking an airplane trip any place. Food was the nucleus

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Speaker 1: of everything that we did. Mr. President. So Monday through Friday,

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Speaker 1: my dad worked, Saturdays and Sundays were spent at our

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Speaker 1: cousin's house, my uncle's, my aunt's, my grandparents homes. That's

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Speaker 1: what we did. But not only did we go to visit,

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Speaker 1: we brought a dish, we brought a plate because remember

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Speaker 1: that's bragging rights. Who makes the best tata salad? Okay,

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Speaker 1: that macaroni and cheese better be creamy. And you have

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Speaker 1: to see the cheese strings rise up from the plate

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Speaker 1: to the top of the fork like it's gonna touch

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Speaker 1: the heavens in the sky. So food is definitely it

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Speaker 1: was definitely a part of entertainment, but it's also a

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Speaker 1: way to show love. It's the way that we nurtured

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Speaker 1: each other. And it's also a vehicle, a conduit that

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Speaker 1: we used to tell stories of the past. See. I

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Speaker 1: never got to meet great Grandma Julia, or Mambo as

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Speaker 1: my parents affectionately called her, but every time we sat

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Speaker 1: down to eat, there was stories that were constantly told

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Speaker 1: about my great grandmother Mambo. And you know, we shared

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Speaker 1: these stories over food, and it could have been a

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Speaker 1: meal that she cooked. But that's how I got to

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Speaker 1: tell my son the stories of his great great grandmother.

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Speaker 1: So even though she didn't live in the present, she

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Speaker 1: lives in his mind and he knows about his lineage.

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Speaker 1: He knows the important part that she and the rest

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Speaker 1: of our family members played still today play in our lives,

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Speaker 1: and he knows the reason that we do certain things.

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Speaker 1: You know, I still like the shell peas because they

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Speaker 1: take me back, and that's one of the beautiful things

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Speaker 1: that food does. It transports you back to warm times

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Speaker 1: and wonderful memories. Oh, when you decided to open your

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Speaker 1: own restaurant, it wasn't in the best of times. It

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Speaker 1: was just a couple of years after nine eleven. And

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Speaker 1: tell us when you decided that at the time had

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Speaker 1: come for you to have your own play and how

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Speaker 1: you made the decision, Mr President, That was a tough time.

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Speaker 1: It was shortly after nine eleven where I worked with

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Speaker 1: chef Michael Lamonico, formerly from the twenty one Club. Chef

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Speaker 1: Lemonico was at Windows in the World and I worked

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Speaker 1: there with him every Sunday, and I was there September nine.

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Speaker 1: You know, my band performed their September nine. September, I

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Speaker 1: was sitting in a meeting with David Emil and Michael

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Speaker 1: Lamonica renegotiating our contract and September you know, I got

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Speaker 1: the call that Tuesday. I'll never forget so that it

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Speaker 1: was a devastating time for us. Um I was on

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Speaker 1: a flight one day and I heard a flight attendant say,

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Speaker 1: in case of an emergency, put on your masks first.

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Speaker 1: Now we've heard this hundreds of times before, but on

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Speaker 1: this day it resonated with me. It wasn't. I had

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Speaker 1: an epiphany. And with my mom being from the South,

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Speaker 1: she had always saved up money under her mattress. So

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Speaker 1: you know, we emulate what we see our parents do. Right,

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Speaker 1: So every Friday when I got paid, I put a

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Speaker 1: little five spot sometimes Mr President, it wasn't one spot, okay,

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Speaker 1: it was whatever little extra I had made for the week.

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Speaker 1: I'd put it under my mattress. So when I heard

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Speaker 1: the flight attendant say that, I said, well, let me

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Speaker 1: see how much money I have under my mattress. I

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Speaker 1: don't want to wake up one day and go what

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Speaker 1: about me? I love my community. Harlem at that time

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Speaker 1: was written with drugs. Fourteen Street and Frederick Douglas was

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Speaker 1: one of the most drug written blocks in Harlem. I

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Speaker 1: wanted it to change, so I figured I could talk

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Speaker 1: about it or I could be about it. Started counting

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Speaker 1: that money and counting and counting. Then I got scared

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Speaker 1: because it was a whole lot of money. I had

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Speaker 1: a massive very very small fortune, and I decided to

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Speaker 1: take that and invest it into my community. I had

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Speaker 1: been married gotten divorced, so I was a single mom

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Speaker 1: with a child, and we're living in Harlem, and I

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Speaker 1: wanted to see my community change and decided to invest

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Speaker 1: in this corner that was red a clock across the

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Speaker 1: street from the heavy drug neighborhood and try to see

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Speaker 1: if I can invoke change, if I could evoke change,

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Speaker 1: and so I did. Melville's It's been such a blessing

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Speaker 1: to me because I was able to take. I am

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Speaker 1: able to take people from my community, give them jobs, skills,

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Speaker 1: and right now I'm at forty one employees. And it's

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Speaker 1: great because ninety eight two percent of those employees live

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Speaker 1: within the Harlem community. So to be able to work

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Speaker 1: here on in a living year, to take that money

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Speaker 1: and then go back and recirculate it in our community,

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Speaker 1: it's how we are able to have some sense of

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Speaker 1: economic empowerment. That's terrific. I wonder if you feel comfortable

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Speaker 1: just telling us what did COVID do to your business

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Speaker 1: and how did you deal with it? Oh, COVID, COVID,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's still unbelievable. The day was March sixteen.

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Speaker 1: I was scheduled to open up a new restaurant the

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Speaker 1: end of March, and we had heard that the city

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Speaker 1: was going to be shut down. But I'm like, this

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Speaker 1: is New York. New York is a city that never sleeps.

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Speaker 1: How are we about to be shut down? To be

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Speaker 1: very candid with you, I didn't believe it was going

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Speaker 1: to happen. I didn't believe New York City was going

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Speaker 1: to be shut down. The call came March sixteen, I

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Speaker 1: immediately called my employees in and even though I'm the

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Speaker 1: only I have no partners and no investors, is just

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Speaker 1: me my employees, I considered them my partners and my

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Speaker 1: investors because there's no way I could run this business

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Speaker 1: successfully without them. So I figured if this was going

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Speaker 1: to be a hard decision, that we had to make

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Speaker 1: it together. The call was that the city was going

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Speaker 1: to shut down and restaurants could only do take out. Now,

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Speaker 1: remember we're a restaurant that thrives on sit down. Did

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Speaker 1: we do take out, yes we did. Did we do catering, yes,

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Speaker 1: but we didn't know how we were going to fear.

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Speaker 1: After meeting with my staff, they all agreed that they

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Speaker 1: wanted to stay open. But we started brainstorming. We changed

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Speaker 1: our hours from five to eleven to twelve to twelve,

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Speaker 1: so that allowed us to keep more people working. And

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Speaker 1: it was a scary day. Mr. President. Now we're around

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Speaker 1: food all day every day, all of a suddenly, I

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Speaker 1: can't tell you if you can feed your family, how

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Speaker 1: long this is gonna last? When it's gonna end. And

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Speaker 1: so it wasn't about me. It was about my family members.

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Speaker 1: And I had no answers. And that's one of the

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Speaker 1: few times in my life that I could not give answers.

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Speaker 1: And that frightened me, That worried me, that saddened me

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Speaker 1: because I had thirty nine people that depended on me

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Speaker 1: to take care of their families and I had no answers.

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Speaker 1: We pivoted, as you know. We went from being the

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Speaker 1: epicenter for new cases hearing me and seeing their horrific

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Speaker 1: stories about trailers being filled with bodies of loved ones.

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Speaker 1: Um just saying it now is still devastating. I'm the

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Speaker 1: president of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, first female

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Speaker 1: president and first person of color to have a hold

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Speaker 1: this position, and we all came together as an industry.

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Speaker 1: We did not want food to be an issue. So

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Speaker 1: we decided to feed frontline workers. We decided to feed

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Speaker 1: police officers. We decided to feed people off the street

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Speaker 1: that could no longer feed their families. We also decided

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Speaker 1: to feed restaurant workers. We invited restaurant workers to come

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Speaker 1: in and just get bags of groceries that we'd filled out.

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Speaker 1: This was good for them, but it was also good

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Speaker 1: for us because we were stressed, We were sat and

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Speaker 1: we were disheartened, we were broken, and we didn't know

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Speaker 1: what the end was going to bring. And how long

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Speaker 1: did you feed other people of people that were involved

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Speaker 1: in daily with a pandemic, Probably from the second week,

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Speaker 1: from the second week it started. So my advertising budget

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Speaker 1: since I've opened since two thousand five has always gone

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Speaker 1: back into feeding the community. It's not something that I publicized,

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Speaker 1: but it's something that we do all the time, from seniors,

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Speaker 1: two kids that deal with literacy issues. So that was

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Speaker 1: a natural progression for us. During the election time, we

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Speaker 1: went to the polls and we fed people standing in

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Speaker 1: Lyne that we're waiting to vote. We gave them water

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Speaker 1: and sandwiches that we had made for them. We gave

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Speaker 1: fried chicken and you know, fried chicken sandwiches. But that's

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Speaker 1: what we do. We use food as a conduit to

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Speaker 1: bring people together, especially during tough times, and that's what

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Speaker 1: we did during the pandemic. We stopped counting at about

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Speaker 1: a little over two hundred thousand people, so I'm not

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Speaker 1: sure how many in total, but we know it was

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Speaker 1: well over two d We'll be right back. Tell us

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Speaker 1: a little about your work on the Mayor's COVID Recovery

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Speaker 1: and Health Equity Task Force, and how are you doing

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Speaker 1: with Mayor Adams and what do you think you ought

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Speaker 1: to do now? Well, we're we're super excited to have

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Speaker 1: Mayor Adams as the mayor of this amazing city. We

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Speaker 1: think that his presence is definitely needed, someone of his

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Speaker 1: stature and a man of his belief, especially during these times.

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Speaker 1: My grandmother used to say, got melby. God gave us

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Speaker 1: two years so that we can listen twice as much

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Speaker 1: as we speak. And that's what Mayor Eric Adams does.

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Speaker 1: He listens to the constituents, He listens to the over

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Speaker 1: eight million people that live in this city and he

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Speaker 1: makes his decisions based on that. So he has a

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Speaker 1: lot of work cut out for him as well as

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Speaker 1: his work with small businesses. The fact that he has

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Speaker 1: four col cheers and that one of them deals specifically

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Speaker 1: with small businesses. I think it's important in his shows

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Speaker 1: that he has committed to our plight and our involvement

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Speaker 1: within our small communities. In this city of New York,

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Speaker 1: the greatest city in the world. I really wanted you

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Speaker 1: to make your small business plug because I think that

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Speaker 1: it's easy to lose sight of in New York because

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Speaker 1: of it's all the financial centers here, and because but

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Speaker 1: it's very important not to forget. You know that most

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Speaker 1: people still work for small businesses in New York City

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Speaker 1: as well as in the country, and it's important, correct,

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Speaker 1: Mr President. Small businesses are the economic engines that drive

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Speaker 1: our cities. So in order for New York City to

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Speaker 1: come back, small businesses have to come back. How do

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Speaker 1: we do that. Well, first of all, the rent is

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Speaker 1: too darn high. It has to be affordable for us

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Speaker 1: to come back. There's a plethora of vacant spaces. Every

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Speaker 1: time I drive around this city, I've ever in my

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Speaker 1: life seeing this many vacant spaces. So they're sitting there vacant.

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Speaker 1: And one of the things that we're talking about right

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Speaker 1: now is how do we make these vacant spaces available

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Speaker 1: for small business owners. They need to be a hub

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Speaker 1: for small business owners to come in operate our businesses.

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Speaker 1: And what do we do by doing that? We employ

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Speaker 1: people within these communities. It is a win win situation.

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Speaker 1: Those dollars intern then recirculate back into our communities and

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Speaker 1: we pay what taxes which benefits the city. Just keep

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Speaker 1: singing that song. We have to keep working at. As

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Speaker 1: you've pointed out, twenty six thousand utter people like you

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Speaker 1: who feed people in New York City, and with a

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Speaker 1: mayor who seems genuinely interested in all this, I hope

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Speaker 1: you'll come up with some good answers. Because we don't

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Speaker 1: know where workers going, we don't know where artificial intelligence

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Speaker 1: is going. We don't know whether there are some businesses

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Speaker 1: that will never again for right the way they did

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Speaker 1: having people come in for eight hours every day. But

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Speaker 1: we know one thing, people will, if given the chance,

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Speaker 1: keep going out to eat, because as you pointed out,

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Speaker 1: it's a form of entertainment by people who can't even

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Speaker 1: afford to go to the movies much. Let's go on vacation.

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Speaker 1: So I hope you'll stay at that because I really

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Speaker 1: believe that it's important. Mr President, I so agree with

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Speaker 1: you about that. You know, the food and beverage industry

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Speaker 1: is the second largest private employer in this country, literally

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Speaker 1: in the country. It's not the automobile industry, it's not

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Speaker 1: the airline industry. It is the food and beverage industry.

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Speaker 1: So when you think about F and B, food and beverage,

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Speaker 1: it's so much more than just a restaurant. But when

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Speaker 1: a restaurant closes its doors, it's such a layered effect.

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Speaker 1: Let's break it down. It's the produce farmer, right, it's

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Speaker 1: your fishmonger, it's your beef, it's your meat. It's also

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Speaker 1: the paper good supplier. It's the vineyard that we're hurting.

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Speaker 1: It's the truck driver that drives the goods from one

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Speaker 1: place to another. So we employ so many different people,

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Speaker 1: and in New York City alone, it's over three hundred

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Speaker 1: thousand jobs. That's a lot of jobs. So we are integral.

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Speaker 1: We have an integral part to this city. Coming back

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Speaker 1: good for you. Just stay after. I think we've got

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Speaker 1: a good chance. And uh, I know how frustrating dealing

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Speaker 1: with COVID has been, and it's been equally frustrating for

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Speaker 1: people around the world. You can see this three in

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Speaker 1: every country. Should we open up? Should we not? If

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Speaker 1: we do what you and I think you have hit

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Speaker 1: the sweet spot because you've done so much to support

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Speaker 1: people getting vaccinated. And we know that getting the vaccination

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Speaker 1: and the booster, even if it doesn't stop a new

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Speaker 1: variant like this omicron, it almost always keeps people out

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Speaker 1: of the hospital, off of a ventilator, out of a mortuary.

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Speaker 1: And I think it's very very important that we keep

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Speaker 1: that in people's minds. I think if you want to

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Speaker 1: bring back open businesses and keep them open, we can't

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Speaker 1: be seen as spreaders of an epidemic. You know. We've

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Speaker 1: got to see be seen as people that are dealing

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Speaker 1: with these things and they come up quickly and minimizing

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Speaker 1: the danger. And I think you've got to do that,

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Speaker 1: which I appreciate very much, Thank you, thank you. But

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Speaker 1: I also agree if you want to live, if you

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Speaker 1: want to live, being vaccinated is the difference between living

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Speaker 1: and not living. I can tell you stories, amongst stories

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Speaker 1: of people that I know that have died simply because

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Speaker 1: they were not that next literally for no other reason

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Speaker 1: than because they weren't vaxed, and it's disheartening that, as

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Speaker 1: you stated, Mr President, we still have people that are

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Speaker 1: reluctant about getting vaccinated. I'm about to host another VACS, really,

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Speaker 1: and that's one of the things we're talking about. We

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Speaker 1: do vacs one oh one to be or not to be.

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Speaker 1: I have doctors there to talk to them, and I

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Speaker 1: also have people that look like us, because oftentimes it's

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Speaker 1: a lot of people in my community. Lest if we're

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Speaker 1: gonna talk, Mr President, let's talk, it's people that look

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Speaker 1: like me oftentimes. And I'm backs, I'm backs, I'm boosted,

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Speaker 1: I'm I put the bee on the VACS and call

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Speaker 1: it backs. That's boosted and VAXX. And I'm here to

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Speaker 1: tell the story. And I had COVID. I had it

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Speaker 1: in the early stages and it was right before I

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Speaker 1: did the sixty minutes piece. And I've never felt anything

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Speaker 1: like that before in my life. That was in March.

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Speaker 1: Never felt anything like that before in my life. And

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Speaker 1: I thought I was going to die, And so I

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Speaker 1: don't want anybody else to experience that feeling more after this.

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Speaker 1: Tell me where you think will be with all this

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Speaker 1: in five years? Where do you think we're gonna be

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Speaker 1: with the economy, with small business. If you could write

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Speaker 1: your own story for the next five years, where would

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Speaker 1: your business be? Good question. Well, I think that there

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Speaker 1: were some lessons that came out of COVID right. COVID

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Speaker 1: taught us that people really do need people, and the

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Speaker 1: importance of the simple things in life, the worts of

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Speaker 1: just going out to take a walk, the importance of

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Speaker 1: checking on our neighbors, because I think to some point

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Speaker 1: a lot of us forgot about the little things, you know,

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Speaker 1: So that's what COVID for me personally, taught me to

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Speaker 1: step back, take a minute, and relax. I think as

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Speaker 1: New Yorkers, um, it's all about the race. We walk fast,

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Speaker 1: we talk fast, we move fast, we do everything fast.

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Speaker 1: COVID made me slow down, take a look, dip my

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Speaker 1: foot in the pool. The water is not so cold.

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Speaker 1: I also think that COVID taught a lot of people

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Speaker 1: how to get into their creative mind, their creative sense,

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Speaker 1: and to understand that we are our brothers and sisters keepers.

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Speaker 1: I think it humanized us in a way that an

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Speaker 1: I dare to say this that was oddly beautiful and simplistic.

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Speaker 1: I know, the way that we look at the food

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Speaker 1: and beverage industry is different. There's no longer small things

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Speaker 1: like front of the house versus back of the house.

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Speaker 1: We're all one house. It didn't really matter if you

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Speaker 1: were a big restaurant or a small restaurant. A lot

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Speaker 1: of us suffered together so we were able to support

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Speaker 1: each other. We have to ensure that this does not

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Speaker 1: happen again. We have to be proactive. But I also

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Speaker 1: think that we have to look at us as truly

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Speaker 1: the melting pot that we say we are. I think

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Speaker 1: we have to become that melting pot. You know, when

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Speaker 1: I think about George Floyd and what that meant and

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Speaker 1: did not just to our city, to our country. We

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Speaker 1: have to make sure that situations like those don't happen again.

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Speaker 1: You know, I'm a mom of a six ten, twenty

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Speaker 1: two year old young man, and I can tell you

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Speaker 1: when he walks out the front door, I'm always concerned

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Speaker 1: about him because even though my son is a gentle giant,

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Speaker 1: because he's a black man at six ten, that is never,

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Speaker 1: oftentimes not seen. So I'm hoping that we look at

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Speaker 1: each other in a more humble way, in a more

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Speaker 1: caring way, and realize the importance and understand that we

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Speaker 1: need each other. I also think that as a city,

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Speaker 1: we have to look at the homeless issue within our

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Speaker 1: city as well as understand and say it out loud

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Speaker 1: so that we can deal with the fact that we

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Speaker 1: have a problem with mental health. Not talking about it

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Speaker 1: it's not It doesn't mean that it doesn't exist, and

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Speaker 1: it's not going to go away because we don't talk

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Speaker 1: about it. We must address the issue of mental health

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Speaker 1: as well as as a drug epidemic going on in

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Speaker 1: our city. So these are hard questions, hard issues, hard problems. However,

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Speaker 1: when I walk out of the doors of Melba's on

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Speaker 1: One Street and Frederick Douglas Boulevard, I looked to my right,

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Speaker 1: there's an amazing statue at one Street, and this statue

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Speaker 1: is of a man named Frederick Douglas, Mr. President. When

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Speaker 1: I looked to my left, there's another amazing monument built

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Speaker 1: to the Queen herself with the roots extending from the

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Speaker 1: hymns of her garment, and that is the one and

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Speaker 1: only Harriet Tubman. I think about the trials, the tribulations

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Speaker 1: that Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman and so many others have endured,

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Speaker 1: and it is on their shoulders that I get my

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Speaker 1: hope and my strength, and I know and believe and

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Speaker 1: declare that this great city, with all of us working

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Speaker 1: together and working hand in hand, shall stand again as

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Speaker 1: New York, New York. So nice that they had to

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Speaker 1: name it twice. I've never heard that. That's great. You

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Speaker 1: should have been with me when I was in politics.

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Speaker 1: You could have might a fortune as a speech ruter.

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Speaker 1: Run again, Mr President, I got you. Oh. Let's close

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Speaker 1: with something that I've really been impressed with, and that

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Speaker 1: is that every year you come up with a word

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Speaker 1: you make a conscious effort to implement. One year it

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Speaker 1: was the word kinder, another year it was pivot. I

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Speaker 1: read what you said about where you got the pivot idea.

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Speaker 1: So what's the word this year? And what are you

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Speaker 1: doing with it? Wow? So my staff they're the only

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Speaker 1: ones that know that. So someone on my team had

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Speaker 1: to tell you that they rated me out. Yeah. I

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Speaker 1: do come up with the word, and this year my

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Speaker 1: word is togetherness, because together we are stronger and the

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Speaker 1: only way that we're going to get through this is

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Speaker 1: by standing strong together. So that's my word this year

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Speaker 1: is togetherness. It's the right word. If there's one thing

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Speaker 1: that I'm concerned about is the large number of people

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Speaker 1: who now seem to believe that our differences are all

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Speaker 1: that matter. In fact, our differences do matter. They're important.

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's what allows debate, that's it allows progress,

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Speaker 1: that's what allows learning. But in order for us to

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Speaker 1: be stronger together, which we clearly are, that was the

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Speaker 1: slogan of Hillary's campaign. But in order for us to

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Speaker 1: be stronger together, we have to believe that our common

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Speaker 1: humanity is more important than our interesting differences. And in

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Speaker 1: a world where you know, we're used to these quick

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00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:30,680
Speaker 1: retweets and clicks, and you know, people are going over

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Speaker 1: the social media, it's easy to forget that. And I

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Speaker 1: think that in a funny way, someone like you, who

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Speaker 1: spent her life feeding the mind and the soul as

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Speaker 1: well as the body, you're in a unique position to

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Speaker 1: remind us. So here she is Will going from Kinder

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Speaker 1: to Pivot two together. Thank you so much, Thank you

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Speaker 1: so much, Mr President. I so appreciate you. Thanks. Why

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Speaker 1: am I telling you? This is a production of our

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio, the Clinton Foundation and at Will Medium. Our

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00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:15,200
Speaker 1: executive producers are Craig Menascian and Will Malnadi. Our production

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00:33:15,280 --> 00:33:19,720
Speaker 1: team includes Jamison Katsufas, Tom Galton, Sara Harowitz, and Jake Young,

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00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:24,760
Speaker 1: with production support from Liz Raftoree and Josh Farnham. Original

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00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:28,920
Speaker 1: music by Watt White. Special thanks to John Sykes, John

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Speaker 1: Davidson on hell Orina, Corey Ganstley, Kevin Thurm, Oscar Flores,

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Speaker 1: and all our dedicated staff and partners at the Clinton Foundation. Hi,

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Speaker 1: this is Bill Clinton. I hope you're enjoying. Why am

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Speaker 1: I telling you this? I started the Clinton Foundation on

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Speaker 1: the belief that everyone deserves a chance to succeed, Everyone

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00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:55,200
Speaker 1: has a responsibility to act, and we all do better

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00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:58,840
Speaker 1: when we work together. In the more than twenty years

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00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:02,280
Speaker 1: since the Foundation for opened its doors in Harlem, we've

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Speaker 1: brought people together across traditional divides to address some of

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Speaker 1: the most complex and pressing challenges of our time. The

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00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:13,080
Speaker 1: need for cooperation has never been more urgent than it

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00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:16,799
Speaker 1: is now. The COVID nineteen pandemic has ripped the cover

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Speaker 1: off long standing and equities and vulnerabilities across our global

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00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:24,720
Speaker 1: community and here at home. The existential threat of climate

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00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:28,040
Speaker 1: change grows every day and all around the world. The

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00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:31,480
Speaker 1: forces of division are tugging at the fabric of our

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Speaker 1: common humanity. That's why this year we're relaunching the Clinton

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Speaker 1: Global Initiatives Annual Meeting in New York in September, bringing

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Speaker 1: together heads of state and other government officials, leaders of

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Speaker 1: NGOs and philanthropic organizations, prominent voices and business, labor and

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00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:53,120
Speaker 1: finance and youth leaders, and grassroots activists to drive progress

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Speaker 1: on inclusive economic growth and recovery, climate resilience, and health equity.

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Speaker 1: While the challenges we fa us are steep, our work

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Speaker 1: has always been about what we can do, not what

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Speaker 1: we can't do, and by bringing diverse partners together to

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Speaker 1: take action and achieve real results, we can create a

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00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:16,279
Speaker 1: culture of possibility in a world hungary for hope. I

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Speaker 1: hope you will take a moment to share your thoughts

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00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:20,400
Speaker 1: and ideas with us and learn more about our work

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00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:25,279
Speaker 1: by visiting www dot Clinton Foundation dot org. Slash podcast.

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Speaker 1: Thank you,