Earlier on June 19th, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered remarks at Juneteenth in Queens.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the Governor's remarks 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:

?Give it up for our great Assemblywoman, Assemblymember Hyndman, I want to thank her for her friendship and all of the – you have, talk about power – look at the people behind me, your elected leaders. They know to deliver for the people of Southeast Queens.

And I'm so proud to be able to have a chance to work with people like Senator Sanders. And I want to thank him for his work with me to sign – for the first time in history – a commission to study reparations. Because the legacy of enslavement has not ended back in the 1800s. It didn't end in the 1900s. It did not end in the 2000s. We are still living with the effects when it comes to redlining and inability to buy homes, and education and health care disparities; environmental justice communities that are crying for help.

I want to give him a round of applause for his work on making that happen. Thank you. Thank you so much.

And do we not have the greatest Attorney General in the United States of America, Tish James, right here? Let's give her a round. Yes, the one and only, Tish James.

And also, what else does Queens have? You have Speaker Adams, who is your voice in City Hall. Speaker Adams, thank you very, very much. And many, many elected officials who've joined us. I just saw Leroy Comrie a little bit. And you've got a really cool, hip, Borough President, I just want to tell you. I love this guy. Donovan Richards, let's give him a round of applause as well.

Here's what I want to say. I've got to give you this public service announcement because I'm the Governor of New York and I have to say this: ladies and gentlemen, we're experiencing a heat wave. I encourage you to hydrate, wear your suntan lotion, keep your pets out of the weather, take care of our seniors and take care of the babies. You got that right?

But I'm in New York City, and New York City is so cool, you're not even having it that hot. It's 106 in Upstate New York, right? It's 107. It's 104 RealFeel temperature on the Canadian border. So, this turns out to be the coolest place you could be in New York right now, right here. So, I want to thank all of you for listening to that public service announcement.

Now, onto Juneteenth, this gives us an opportunity to hearken back to the ghost of the ancestors and reflect on their struggles and the indignities they endured, not just back then in time of enslavement, but for generations. But in 2024, what are we doing with that legacy and the torch that was passed to our generation to right the wrongs of the past?

First of all, we are focused on voting rights. I was very proud to sign that John R. Lewis voting rights law into effect to remove all the barriers that people have put in place to stop us from voting. Now, this fall, let's see if it works. Okay? Because they're counting on you all staying home, right? They want you to stay home. They want to make it so hard you say, “It's just not worth it”. We have early voting, we have mail in voting, we have in-person voting – you have no excuses, my friends. We must show up and show the power.

Number two: we also not only passed the Reparations Commission, but I'm here to announce that the 400-year commission to find ways to honor the past of African Americans and to make sure that the future generations know the struggles and to make sure that they understand what racism all is about.

Today, I'm here to announce that as a result of this commission, we have $16 million that we're going to be giving to cultural organizations and the schools and places to make sure that people know the story, know the history and make sure we find a path for a better future for our children as a result of this work.

So, thank you. Thank you all for being here today to honor the past and to talk about, more importantly, the future. And again, if there's one message other than stay cool and beat the heat, it is make sure you use the power that's been given to all of us through the struggles and blood and murders of a lot of people who came before during the civil rights movement, and you use the power to vote this November. We're counting on you, Queens. Thank you very much, everybody.

They also have a really big proclamation. Tunisia, come on over here darling. Now, I'm a good enough politician to know that this is a really long proclamation. Now, we're going to vote right now. If you all want me to read this proclamation word by word, raise your hands and vote yes. You actually do. There are actually people who want me to read the whole damn proclamation. Let me do this again.

Those who do not want me to read every word, raise your hands. Okay, the majority rules. But this is a great proclamation. Go to Tunisia's office or her house. Maybe it's going to be in her living room. Can I hang this in your living room? Here you go, sweetheart. Happy Juneteenth, everybody.