Hakeem Jeffries Promises Change At State Of The District Address

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — Congressman Hakeem Jeffries capped a tumultuous political year with a promise for the one going forward: "Hold on, change is coming."

Jeffries repeated that pledge time and again at his state of the district address Monday evening— his second bite at that annual speech apple.

Something historic but maybe-not-unexpected happened last time he scheduled a state of the district address: the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

Jeffries, a Democratic representative who was named an impeachment manager, called a mulligan on the planned Feb. 3 speech and rescheduled until later.

Later came on Monday, when he delivered his delayed address to his Eighth Congressional Districtconstituents who live in Bed-Stuy, Prospect Heights, Fort Greene and a laundry list of other north Brooklyn neighborhoods.

They flowed into a gymnasium at Long Island University's downtown Brooklyn Campus, taking seats on the floor, climbing into bleachers and packing the auditorium to capacity. They greeted each other with a rush of greetings, hugs and handshakes.

A good helping of elected officials also mingled in the crowd, including city Councilwoman Alicka Ampry-Samuel, Councilman Robert Cornegy and state Attorney Letitia James.

The impeachment wasn’t far from James’ mind, or those of other speakers — or the crowd for that matter.

"So I say to the president of these United States," she said, pausing ever-so-pregnantly, "Congressman Jeffries is ours. Congressman Jeffries speaks for Brooklyn. Congressman Jeffries speaks for all reasonable and rational people who demand that decency be returned to the White House."

Jeffries himself led off his speech by saying he spent the last month in the Senate surrounded by Republican Trump backers like Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz. He called it good to be back on his Brooklyn “home turf” and threw some sharp barbs toward the president.

"You are increasingly behaving like a one-man crime wave sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue," he said about Trump.

But the speech was more than a roast of a president to an appreciative Brooklyn crowd. Jeffries highlighted bills and measures that he said affected his constituents.

With each point — whether drug prices, affordable housing, the upcoming Census— he punctuated it with, "Hold on, change is coming."

Jeffries also talked about gentrification and over-development. He said Brooklyn residents who stayed in their neighborhoods saw broken glass and crack vials replaced by bike lanes and sidewalk cafes should not be displaced — and the government should help.

"Individuals who helped turn this situation around, who helped transform your neighborhoods, should not be victims of your own success," he said.

Jeffries closed the speech with a note of concern about a "troubling rise" of hate crimes across America, including a surge of anti-Semitic incidents and attacks in New York City.

Like many parts of his speech, he repeated phrases until they reached a crescendo matched by the crowd's applause.

"We will tolerate hatred," he said. "We will not tolerate anti-Semitism. We will not tolerate racism. We will not tolerate sexism. We will not tolerate Islamophobia. We will not tolerate homophobia. We will not tolerate xenophobia. We will not tolerate bigotry of any kind whatsoever."