It was 12:06 am on January 1, 2022 just after the ball dropped in Times Square that mayor-elect, Eric Adams was sworn in as the 110th mayor of New York City.
Eric Adams being sworn in as the second black and 110th mayor of New York City
With his left hand on a family bible held by his son, Jordan Coleman and his right hand holding up a framed photograph of his mother, Dorothy, who died last spring, Adams took the oath of office administered by Judge Sylvia Hinds-Radix during a New Year’s Eve festive but pared-down Times Square ceremony.
Adams, who had canceled his inauguration ceremony indoors at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn because of COVID-19 and chose the backdrop of the ball-drop crowd, is now the second black mayor in the city’s 124-year history. The first was the late Mayor David Dinkins in 1990. He died in November, 2020 at 93.
Adams, 61, is the son of a house cleaner who grew up poor in Queens. He was a New York City police captain before entering politics. He served four terms as a state senator before becoming Brooklyn Borough president in 2013.
Eric Adams, New York City’s 110th Mayor
In a city where murders, shootings and other kinds of violent crimes have gone up steadily especially in the pandemic, Mr. Adams ran for mayor on a public safety message, using his working-class and police background to convey empathy for the parts of New York still struggling with the effects of crime and poverty. He pledged to address crime and longstanding inequities as the city’s “first blue-collar mayor,”
“I wore a bulletproof vest for 22 years and protected the people of this city,” Mr. Adams said. “And when you do that, then you have the right to question me on safety and public safety matters. I think I know a little something about this,” Adams said.
Adams always recalled being brutalized by the NYPD officers at the 103rd Precinct station house in Jamaica, Queens when he was 15. Standing outside that same precinct just hours before becoming mayor, he said that encounter eventually compelled him to join the police department, retiring with the rank of captain. “Today is an important moment for me as I finally leave the demons right here on these streets,” Mr. Adams said, after he led a roll call at the station. He said that he told the officers that they would be given “the tools and support that they need.” “But we are also going to hold them to a high standard,” he added.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams
Adams won by a landslide in the general election over Republican challenger Curtis Sliwa following an intense June primary contest against 12 Democratic candidates. During the campaign, while his primary rivals presented a progressive platform as a pathway toward improving the city’s quality of life, Adams embraced a center-left agenda largely focused on reducing crime.
Mr. Adams takes office with a tough task ahead of him as the coronavirus driven by the Omicron variant engulfs the city. The former Brooklyn Borough President succeeds Bill de Blasio, a progressive Democrat who took over from Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg was Rudy Giuliani’s successor.
ABOUT FLORENCE MAFOMEMEH – FOUNDER, OWNER AND EDITOR OF BNN
Florence Mafomemeh is the founder, owner and editor of Black Nation News – BNN
Mafomemeh is a multimedia, backpack journalist and three-time B Free award-winning community video producer. She produces long and short form video and audio stories and writes news for broadcast and online media. She is very passionate about stories that impact the lives of ordinary people.
A native of Cameroon in West Africa, Mafomemeh wanted to become a journalist since the time she was in secondary school. As a news junkie, she realized that news hardly reach all ordinary people and their stories were not being told. She told herself that she would be a journalist so that she would bring the news to them and give them a voice by telling their stories to the world.
Growing up, Mafomemeh watched, read and listened to a lot of national and international news and used much of her pocket allowance to buy international news magazines like Time and Complete Football International. In order to not miss the news, she slept with a small radio under her pillow and usually left a tape for news to be recorded for her when she was not at home.
Currently living in New York City, Mafomemeh graduated from Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY in 2019 with a master’s degree in Journalism. While in school, she produced radio and TV News stories on deadline as a one-man band. She also reported news stories around New York City for the NYCITY News Service. Florence was also a news reporter and co-anchor for 219 West, a TV News Magazine that aired on CUNY-TV.
As a field Community video Producer at Brooklyn Free Speech TV, Mafomemeh produces news stories that highlight issues in East New York and New York City. Her stories have had eight B Free Award nominations and three wins – The George Stoney B Free Awards for Social Impact and B-Informed, and The B Free People’s Choice Award. Florence has also freelanced for NYCPolitics.com and was a NYS Election Reporting Fellow with the Center for Community Media at CUNY.
Mafomemeh also has a B.S. in Broadcast Journalism from CUNY- Brooklyn College, a B.A. in English, and an M.A. in the Literatures in English and Commonwealth nations from the University of Yaounde 1 in Cameroon. She specialized/majored in Caribbean Literature, focusing on the West Indies where she did her dissertation on the works of V.S. Naipaul. She also has certificates in journalism, community news production & reporting, proofreading and editing 101 from New York University-SCPS, People’s Production House and Teacher’s College, Columbia University.
While at people’s Production House, Mafomemeh was radio reporter and co-host of Global Movements Urban Struggles-GMUS on WBAI Radio. GMUS was a show that tackled various issues facing various communities in New York City and around the United States.
Having lived through many challenging experiences and seeing people going through them everyday, Mafomemeh is passionate about telling stories that matter. She is fulfilling her childhood dream of telling ordinary people’s stories that impact their lives and help to inspire others.
I hope you have a great time here on BNN and find something to take with you even if it is just a good laugh! Please, do not forget to subscribe to/sign up for the newsletter with your e-mail address to receive notifications of new posts. Please, also show me some love by sharing the link to the site.
Also check out my personal blog at Talking Point With Florence where you can also see the “MORE YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ME” blog post of November 2, 2013.
ABOUT FLORENCE MAFOMEMEH – FOUNDER, OWNER AND EDITOR OF BNN
Florence Mafomemeh is the founder, owner and editor of Black Nation News – BNN
Mafomemeh is a multimedia, backpack journalist and three-time B Free award-winning community video producer. She produces long and short form video and audio stories and writes news for broadcast and online media. She is very passionate about stories that impact the lives of ordinary people.
A native of Cameroon in West Africa, Mafomemeh wanted to become a journalist since the time she was in secondary school. As a news junkie, she realized that news hardly reach all ordinary people and their stories were not being told. She told herself that she would be a journalist so that she would bring the news to them and give them a voice by telling their stories to the world.
Growing up, Mafomemeh watched, read and listened to a lot of national and international news and used much of her pocket allowance to buy international news magazines like Time and Complete Football International. In order to not miss the news, she slept with a small radio under her pillow and usually left a tape for news to be recorded for her when she was not at home.
Currently living in New York City, Mafomemeh graduated from Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY in 2019 with a master’s degree in Journalism. While in school, she produced radio and TV News stories on deadline as a one-man band. She also reported news stories around New York City for the NYCITY News Service. Florence was also a news reporter and co-anchor for 219 West, a TV News Magazine that aired on CUNY-TV.
As a field Community video Producer at Brooklyn Free Speech TV, Mafomemeh produces news stories that highlight issues in East New York and New York City. Her stories have had eight B Free Award nominations and three wins – The George Stoney B Free Awards for Social Impact and B-Informed, and The B Free People’s Choice Award. Florence has also freelanced for NYCPolitics.com and was a NYS Election Reporting Fellow with the Center for Community Media at CUNY.
Mafomemeh also has a B.S. in Broadcast Journalism from CUNY- Brooklyn College, a B.A. in English, and an M.A. in the Literatures in English and Commonwealth nations from the University of Yaounde 1 in Cameroon. She specialized/majored in Caribbean Literature, focusing on the West Indies where she did her dissertation on the works of V.S. Naipaul. She also has certificates in journalism, community news production & reporting, proofreading and editing 101 from New York University-SCPS, People’s Production House and Teacher’s College, Columbia University.
While at people’s Production House, Mafomemeh was radio reporter and co-host of Global Movements Urban Struggles-GMUS on WBAI Radio. GMUS was a show that tackled various issues facing various communities in New York City and around the United States.
Having lived through many challenging experiences and seeing people going through them everyday, Mafomemeh is passionate about telling stories that matter. She is fulfilling her childhood dream of telling ordinary people’s stories that impact their lives and help to inspire others.
I hope you have a great time here on BNN and find something to take with you even if it is just a good laugh! Please, do not forget to subscribe to/sign up for the newsletter with your e-mail address to receive notifications of new posts. Please, also show me some love by sharing the link to the site.
Also check out my personal blog at Talking Point With Florence where you can also see the “MORE YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ME” blog post of November 2, 2013.
