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Anthony A. Williams, Democratic Candidate for
Mayor in the 
September 10, 2002, Primary Election
Campaign Kickoff Speech
June 22, 2002

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Mayor Anthony A.Williams
Campaign Kick-Off

Campaign Headquarters

June 22, 2002

AS PREPARED

Thank you. Thank you all for joining me to kick-off our campaign. As I look around at all of you -- so many family members, friends, and supporters -- I am struck by the plain fact that I’d never be here were it not for you.

More than anything, I want to thank Diane, my partner in love and life, for that introduction and for sharing this journey with me. When I was lucky enough to meet Diane, she was a single mother -- and she and our daughter, Asantewa, have loved, supported, and, yes, humored me ever since. Then there’s my mother, Virginia, who, along with my late father, my six sisters and my brother, adopted this foster-care kid into their home and hearts. Thanks, mom.

So many of you have been with me from the beginning. You took a chance on me four years ago, trusting that what I lacked in fashion, I’d make up for in commitment. Thank you for believing that, together, we could bring a sense of pride back to the District. Because that’s exactly what we’ve done.

Gone are the days of $500 million deficits, control boards, and junk bond ratings. Now, at a time when other cities and states are seeing nothing but red ink, we can be proud that we have balanced our budget…for the fifth year in a row.

Gone are the days when our best snow removal strategy was the sun, and people got tired of waiting for the trash trucks and called the moving vans instead. Now our city government is working better for all our people. More streets are paved and cleaned. And more families are hiring moving vans…but this time they are headed in the other direction -- back to our city.

Sometimes I am asked why I am so passionate about effective government. And, it’s pretty simple. It’s not because good government is an end in itself. It’s the means -- the path to justice, to opportunity, to hope for people. I fought to help almost 5,000 working families buy affordable homes, because of what it does for these Washingtonians to finally have a place to call their own.

I fought to bring $10 billion in private investment into our neighborhoods, including Home Depot, Giant, and countless other stores, because I know how important it is for people to be able to shop, go out to dinner, and work in their own communities. I fought to provide health insurance to 26,000 more people because all parents should have a doctor to call when a child needs care.

That’s why I ran for Mayor four years ago: to help make people’s lives and neighborhoods better in our city. We’ve made real progress, but the job is not yet done. And so I am here today to announce that I’m running again for mayor of Washington, DC. I ask you to stand with me again, and we will make sure that there is only one winner – the citizens of this city.

Now, over this past year, there has been a lot of speculation about who our opponents would be in this race. (And, after a few of my mistakes, I was even asked if I was running against myself.)

The fact is, regardless of who I run against, I will be running for the same things: for schools that serve all our children; for neighborhoods that people are proud to call home, for democratic rights for all our residents. For us, the work must goes on – for those who tell me they still feel left out or forgotten, for those who look at Washington and still see a tale of two cities, cities divided by skin color, income, and geography.

Our diversity is what is so amazing about this city. Our strength comes because we are black and white, Latino and Asian, rich and poor, old and young, gay and straight, business leaders and faith leaders, veterans and students. And I want to run a campaign that celebrates these differences, but never tolerates divisions and disparities. I want to run a campaign that asks us to turn this tale of two cities into one city, with one future.

And this is especially personal for me. I often think about how the civil rights pioneers struggled and sacrificed, fought for and even died for so much of what I have today: my education, my right to vote, my opportunity to serve as mayor, to live and contribute to Dr. King’s dream. Now, it’s our responsibility to give every child in DC that same chance.

And how will we do that? In the months ahead, I will outline specific proposals, but today, I want to talk a bit about our guiding principles.

I believe that if we want to create one city, then all children, regardless of where they live, must have first-rate schools and well-trained teachers. Now, I may not have a lot of direct responsibility for our schools. But I do have a responsibility to all our children. And so, during the past few years, during a time of great fiscal constraints, we increased school funding by 40 percent. We gave teachers a 20 percent raise. We helped 1,900 young people afford a college education.

But, despite the improvements, we still have a lot of catching up to do. I still talk to too many students who are looking at their crumbling classrooms and outdated textbooks, and finding it hard to believe they are really valued. I will continue to do my part to provide the resources needed. But I will also use our collective voice to say to the school board and superintendent: It is time to do better. It is time to get the job done.

Second, if we want to be one city, then no neighborhood should be left behind. You can see our progress everywhere you look: More than 9,000 new homes are being built – half of them in Ward 8 alone. We have the first shopping center in Northeast in decades. Commercial corridors like Georgia and New York Avenues are being revitalized. Many of our worst open-air drug markets are shut-down and gone.

But, creating one city also means making sure that residents from every ward -- residents who built DC and raised generations of their families here -- should be able to afford to buy their homes and keep their homes in their neighborhoods.

Creating one city means continuing to build a health care system that focuses not only on care, but also on prevention…It means reducing the number of people suffering from AIDS, heart disease, and other diseases that especially hit our poorest citizens.

Creating one city means ensuring that police officers are visible in all parts of town. That local, minority-owned entrepreneurs have help starting, and sustaining, their own businesses. And it means transforming our Anacostia waterfront from a national disgrace into what it can and should be: a national treasure.

Finally, if we are going to create one city, then we must have self-government, not student government. African Americans struggled and sacrificed for the right to vote. Yet here, in the capital of democracy, live one of the largest groups of disenfranchised voters in the world. It is time, once and for all, to give us a vote in Congress.

So, clearly, there is still a lot more for us to do. And I need you to stay involved in this campaign. Between now and Election Day, help us get the message out about the stakes in this election. Help us run against opponents like complacency and apathy. Help us make this the most amazing city in the world.

Our city is a place of beauty and history, ideas and ideals, neighborhoods and cultures -- a place of great citizens. And working with all of you these past four years has been the absolute privilege of my lifetime.

I will always remember the postal workers at Brentwood, who, during the Anthrax scare, put their lives on the line to fulfill their duties – a quality I saw in my own parents who both worked for the Postal Service most of their lives. I will always be thankful to the residents who squeezed precious hours out of nights and weekends to participate in our citizens’ summits, coming forward with advice and, at times, criticism.

And I will always be inspired by young people like Melvin Moore, who is here with us today. The first time I met Melvin, he raised his hand and asked me just when I was going to form my Youth Advisory Council. I told him that, right then and there, I was appointing him chair of it, and now it was his job to get it off the ground. And, instead of looking at me like I was nuts, he went home and got to work. He helped write the legislation, which I signed in April. He helped organize our Youth Summit. He came with me recently to Rome for an international youth forum. He is a true leader in DC for youth empowerment. And now, he is going off to Hampden-Sydney College.

Now, let me be clear, Melvin was involved in all this stuff way before I came into the picture. In fact, when he was in elementary school, this kid, who had a pretty tough childhood, decided to start a youth court at his school. What that meant, is that instead of going to the principal when they got into trouble, his classmates were tried by judges and juries of their peers. He was eight years-old at the time – eight. Melvin, could you please stand?

When people ask me why I love this job so much…why it’s so important to finish the work we began…and why I’m running for Mayor again, that is why. People like Melvin are why.

Thank you all. Now let’s go out and win this election -- and finally build one city with one future for the people of Washington, DC!

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