U.S. Attorney Damian Williams's Investiture Speech

You know there is something about that song sung on a day like this that feels so fitting because the road here has been long. It has been 232 years since the first President George Washington appointed the first United States Attorney for the District of New York. 232 years. It has been 100 years since Colonel William Hayward appointed the first black lawyer James C. Thomas, Jr. to work in my Office. 100 years. It has been more than 70 years since my mother and her twin sister were born in the hills of Jamaica in a tiny town called Aenon Town where they grew up and would bathe in the river behind their house because that’s what they had, and it was alright. 50 years since they came to this country as immigrants, immigrants who became Americans. You know and I know that moments like this don’t just happen like that. The road here has been paved step by step by generations of people of all colors and nationalities, paved by the elders among us and the ancestors above us – ancestors like Colonel William Hayward, ancestors like James C. Thomas, Jr. who believed in America before America believed in him, ancestors with tough hands and tender hearts and big dreams for a world that they would never witness.

That’s why I wanted us to gather here. This place forces us to reflect on our history, this place forces us to reflect on the road that we have all inherited, and this place forces us to focus not on me making history, but instead on the history that made me because that is far, far more important. And in my quiet moments, that’s where my mind goes – to that inheritance, to that road. The long road behind us and the unfinished road ahead. It makes my obligations as U.S. Attorney crystal clear. I owe it to the people who paved this path to do my job with excellence; to be fiercely independent of politics; to do equal justice under the law for all people, no matter what; to demonstrate that compassion and mercy are not signs of weakness, they are signs of strength; to draw a new generation into the Department of Justice at a time when it needs it; and to prove myself worthy of the people who I now serve.

Now, we are in a season of thanksgiving, and my heart is full of gratitude for the people who made this day possible. First of all, I want to say thank you to my good friend Kwame and the folks here at the Harlem Children’s Zone for their incredible, incredible work. They have not only opened their doors for us, but they continue to serve this community in Central Harlem day in and day out. They are vital, and I thank you so much.

To the law enforcement partners here, and there are a lot of law enforcement folks here keeping this event safe, keeping us safe, and I’m speaking to the FBI, the NYPD, the U.S. Marshals, the Capitol Police, the Special Agents with my Office. You guy shave dangerous jobs, and I salute you. I really do.

I am grateful to all the people here who dreamed this dream with me, and I want to speak to them for a moment. To my family, especially the women in my family who held me and fed me and taught me and protected me and pushed me. These women made me a man.

To my friends and my mentors, my chosen family. You guys have kept me on the path of public service. You have filled up my cup with love, and I am so grateful for you.

I am grateful to Senator Schumer, who recommended me to the President after a long and vigorous search. He was willing to pick someone who broke the mold, and I wouldn’t be standing here today as U.S. Attorney without him, so thank you.

I am grateful to my predecessors who are here today. Preet Bharara hired me, and he gave me the honor of working in the Southern District of New York. Joon Kim saw something special in me and put me on the Southern District’s biggest stage. Geoff Berman promoted me, and then when the hour demanded true courage and independence and the demonstration of what it means to be a Southern District of New York prosecutor, he showed all of American what that meant, so thank you, thank you, thank you. To Audrey Strauss, my predecessor who has welcomed me with open arms and demonstrated true grit and grace in the way that she took over and led the Office during some of its toughest times, I am so grateful for you, Audrey. I am so grateful for you.

To Judge Garland, the Attorney General of the United States, who has consistently believed in me. You know, when I was in law school, I did not have plans to apply for a clerkship, much less a clerkship with the most respected judge in all of America. I didn’t think I was ready, but Judge Garland has his ways. He managed to find me, he convinced me to apply to him and only him, and then he shocked me when he hired me, and that was a pivot point in my career. It was a true pivot point in my career, and then years later, he was the very first person who told me that I should be the U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. There is an old saying that you cannot be what you cannot see. Well, Judge Garland, over the years, has helped me see, and I can’t thank you enough.

To my wife, Jennifer Wynn. My heart, my bride, my one and only. I am who I am because you are who you are, and I don’t know what I did to deserve you or why you chose me, but I’m feeling pretty blessed.

To my children, to my sweet, sweet children, you motivate me every single day, every single day, but I want you to know this – no matter what I do for a living, I live for you. Being your daddy is my most important job, and you will come first every single day. I love you.

Now that I am the U.S. Attorney, I want to tell you just a little bit about what I want to do with the job, and I’m just going to briefly outline my four priorities, four co-equal priorities. First, I’m going to do everything in my power to protect the people of this district from gun violence. The burden of that violence too often falls on people of color who are burdened by far too much already. No matter who you are and where you live, when you rest your tired head on the pillow at night the last thing you need is to be woken up by the bang of a gun. People deserve peace. They deserve peace, and I will continue to work with people in my Office to bring the kind of cases that identify the drivers of violence in our communities. Those are the kind of cases that don’t always make headlines, but they make the difference, and we will be smart, we will be targeted, we will be evidence based. We will work with our community partners and our law enforcement partners to get results because when it comes to protecting the people of this District, it is an all-hands-on-deck moment.

Second, I will be equally relentless in rooting out corruption in our financial markets, and I use the word “equally,” by the way, on purpose because I don’t believe that there should be one justice system for white collar crime and another justice system for blue collar crime. No, I don’t believe in that. “Equal justice under the law” is not a slogan, it is a constitutional command rooted in the 14^th Amendment, and that means that as long as I am the U.S. Attorney, we will continue to bring hard cases, complex cases, without regard to power or privilege, the kind of cases that can ultimately deter corporate crime. If we do that, then we can protect people from the types of schemes that robbed them of their savings and their faith in our financial system.

Third, I want to reconnect with the community that we serve. Yes, I am the Manhattan U.S. Attorney, but I am also the Bronx U.S. Attorney, I am the Newburgh U.S. Attorney, I am the Yonkers U.S. Attorney. I serve all people in all corners of this District, and I plan to spend much of my time engaging with community partners, faith groups, advocacy organizations, and young people to let them know that they have my attention, and they have my ear. But I also know that that’s not enough because, you know and I know, we are living in troubled times. White supremacist groups are on the march, antisemitism is on the march, anti-Asian violence is on the march, abuse of the most vulnerable in our society is on the march – and that includes, by the way, abuse of incarcerated women and men who lose their liberty but not their right to be kept safe when they walk through a prison door. The Southern District of New York has always done its part to protect people’s civil rights, and I’m going to do everything in my power to elevate that work and to drive it forward. That is my obligation as U.S. Attorney, and so I am proud to announce today that I am creating a brand-new Civil Rights Unit in the Criminal Division of my Office. This is an idea whose time has come because, for decades, the Southern District has done groundbreaking civil rights enforcement work mostly from our Civil Division, which has a Civil Rights Unit that is second to none, and they continue to do excellent work, but the Criminal Division needs a single, permanent home for some of this work with a mandate to focus solely on civil rights enforcement. I believe a new Civil Rights Unit in our Criminal Division will make us more effective, and I am proud that we’re going to get it done while I’m the U.S. Attorney.

Now, my last priority is certainly not my least. Will the women and men who work in my Office please stand up? I want to say this directly to you guys: I will work tirelessly day in and day out to support you, to have your back, to clear your path of obstacles, to push you to be your absolute best. And I want everyone here to hear this: These folks have hard jobs and good hearts, they really do, and I told them this when I started that no matter which way the wind blows, no matter what kind of pressures they face, whether they are being lionized or criticized, they stand strong. They are public servants for all seasons, and on this day of celebration, on this day of thanksgiving, I am proud to stand here as their U.S. Attorney, and I will work every single day to keep paving that long road of progress.

Thank you everybody for coming.