The raising of the Dominican Flag at Bowling Green Park

Mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, delivers a speech at the flag-raising ceremony of the Dominican Republic flag in Bowling Green Park.

About the ceremony:

The Dominican revolutionary group known as La Trinitaria emphasized its Christian heritage by placing a white cross over the blue-red background of the flag. The revolution led by La Trinitaria erupted on February 27, 1844, and the flag, designed by Juan Pablo Duarte, was hoisted the following day. The success of the independence movement led to a constitution for the country, which established the official flag on November 6, 1844.

The order of the colors at the edge of the flag was reversed, so that from then on, blue and red would alternate, with the white cross between them. The coat of arms incorporates in its central shield the national flag, a Bible, and a cross, along with laurel and palm branches, the country’s name, and the motto “Dios, patria, libertad” (“God, homeland, liberty”).

With some artistic variations, the flag has continued to be used to this day. Photo of New York City Police Commissioner, Edward Caban, holding the Dominican flag, Mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, and Manuel Castro, Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs.

Full text of the Mayor’s speech:

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thank you so much. I say it over and over again, I may be from Alabama, but I’m Dominican, baby. And I just want to the commissioner, and I just left the funeral for Officer Martinez. We just want to take a moment of silence to reflect on this young man who was a true hero in the police department, not only by adoring the blue uniform, but what he did as a civilian. He was a symbol of what is best among us as New Yorkers and members of a important part of our city. That’s the NYPD. So if we could just have a moment of silence.

Thank you so much. And I want to thank our deputy mayor and the representation, 110 mayors. We finally realized how important it’s to have a deputy mayor of Dominican descent and what she brings to the table, Deputy Mayor Almanzar, give it up for her again. A lot of energy. And to this amazing community of the, not only the substantive part of this community and how you are many first responders, the law enforcement community, some of our police officers, firefighters who are here, but also the symbolism of really tragedy. You think about flight 587, and I remember watching the plane going down. But the families lifted up New Yorkers by showing how important it is to push through those painful moments and find purposeful moments. We thank you for joining us here today and what you represent.

And the Dominican studies, history is connected to our future. And by being able to study our history, we’ll understand the future. And our business community, NSA, our supermarkets, our small businesses, that is where you are in alignment with this administration. As many of our immigrant groups in this city, you believe in family, you believe in business, you believe in public safety, you believe in faith.

We know we can’t do anything without God in our lives. And the Dominican community really embraces our faith and our belief. We don’t live in the presence of fear. We live in the sunshine of faith. And as long as that faith is so much part of our lives, we can overcome any and everything.

It was just a few miles from here that our center of trade was attacked during September 11th. And on September 11th, many of us mourned the losses. But you know what? On September 12th, we got up and we showed what this city and what this country is made of. And that’s because of groups like this important group, our Dominican community.

This is the Santo Domingo of America, 900,000 strong Dominicans live in New York City. And you see history being made every day. Nothing is more historic than our presence of our amazing first Dominican congressperson in Congressman Espaillat, a real leader, an American story. Coming to this country, not understanding English, sitting inside a classroom trying to navigate the challenges and complexities. And it shows the greatness of this country. You can go from one level to another level. And now he’s on the congressional floor making policies that will impact all of us.

And all of these employees that I have here that are part of this administration, it’s reflective of the city. There’s a real presence of those who have Spanish as a second language or first language are part of this administration. We made history when we appointed my good friend and brother, Eddie Caban, to be the first Spanish-speaking police commissioner in the history of New York. We did it again with Commissioner Molina in the Department of Correction, first time in history.

So you see the barriers being dropped over and over again because this is one city, and everyone must be a part of the city because it’s all of our contributions that make this city. And that makes this country great. Only country on the globe where you are told do not abandon your motherland as you embrace your adopted land of America. That’s the reason the hyphen fits between our names, Dominican hyphen American, African hyphen American, Jewish, Polish, Irish, German hyphen America. You take that hyphen away and we won’t have the secret weapon that makes us who we are.

When we raise the flag today, we’re not only raising a piece of cloth, we’re raising the symbolism of what it means to be part of this great city and great country. And our brother, Juan Rodriguez, the first immigrant that has ever come to these shores, he understood that. So how proud he must be to see what we are accomplishing today.

And I want you all to join me because many people who are on the line are from distant shores. We only ask you to do one thing, spend a lot of money in New York. You can be patriotic if you leave your George Washington’s here. And so viva Dominicana, thank you for what you have done. We look forward to the parade this weekend. Let’s continue to be a mighty, mighty group of people in this city. Thank you very much.

Photos: Leco Viana and Vitor M Matos
Text: Fabricio Bomjardim