‘He brought this city back’: Rev. Al Sharpton, Mayor de Blasio and political leaders remember the late David Dinkins as the forward-looking hero of Harlem
Nicholas Williams, Dave Goldiner
David Dinkins got a send-off worthy of political royalty Saturday as a parade of past, present and aspiring leaders paid tribute to the the city’s first and only Black mayor.
Rev. Al Sharpton led the memorial by lauding the late mayor for pulling the city out of its deep racial divide and laying the foundation for a generation of peace and prosperity.
“David Dinkins inherited a city that was broke and divided,” Sharpton told a star-studded crowd at his National Action Network headquarters in Harlem. “He preached about a gorgeous mosaic when many of us didn’t want to hear about unity and he preached it anyway and won for mayor.”
“He brought this city back,” Sharpton said.
The Rev. Al Sharpton speaks during a broadcast ceremony honoring the late New York City Mayor David Dinkins at the National Action Network on Saturday.
The Rev. Al Sharpton speaks during a broadcast ceremony honoring the late New York City Mayor David Dinkins at the National Action Network on Saturday. (Barry Williams/)
Dinkins died last Monday in his home at the age of 93. He served as City Clerk and Manhattan Borough President before winning one four-year term in Gracie Mansion.
Political allies like ex-Rep. Charlie Rangel and even self-confessed sometime rivals like Sharpton praised Dinkins as a man ahead of his time who never quite got his due.
Dozens gathered inside the hall. An overflow crowd of people sat outside on folding chairs and listened to the event through a speaker. The crowd cheered and clapped as the speakers inside paid homage to the uptown political fixture who transformed the city’s political world.
Several speakers said Dinkins deserves more credit for igniting the city’s return to economic prosperity and starting a decades-long decline in crime.
Ex-Gov. David Paterson, who was a child when he met Dinkins, rattled off a string of statistics showing that the mayor’s impressive positive impact on his beloved city. It rankles Paterson that Dinkins was rarely portrayed that way in life.
“None of them can be refuted,” Paterson said. “(Let’s) give Mayor Dinkins the happiness that I don’t think he ever got to enjoy as a mayor.”
Mayor de Blasio called Dinkins a mentor and a powerful role model whose unifying example shone through the often-divisive rule of his successor, Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
“He knew this city could be better and that was his power,” de Blasio said.
Mayor de Blasio speaks at a ceremony honoring late New York City Mayor David Dinkins at the National Action Network in Harlem.
Mayor de Blasio speaks at a ceremony honoring late New York City Mayor David Dinkins at the National Action Network in Harlem. (Barry Williams/)
De Blasio recalled the powerful moment when Dinkins hosted Nelson Mandela like a head of state when the South African freedom icon journeyed to New York after being freed from nearly three decades in prison.
“It was so moving,” de Blasio recalled. “I remember Nelson Mandela walked by me going in City Hall and it felt like time stood still.”
Former New York City mayor David Dinkins has been an ever present figure in city politics since his beginnings in politics in the 1960s. From his time in the New York State assembly, to his tenure as Manhattan’s Borough President in the ‘80s, to becoming the mayor of New York City in the early ‘90s, take a look back at Dinkins’ life and political career.
Dinkins got his start as a lawyer before entering New York City politics, having received his degree from Brooklyn Law School. Dinkins, seen here in 1967, was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1966, where he represented District 78 in the Bronx, while running a private law practice.
Attorneys David Dinkins and Emil H. Ellie with singer Dinah Washington at Felony Court. Dinah smiles after the complainant testified that what she first though was a gun might have been a "comb' or a fountain pen," a felonious assault charge against the blues singer was reduced to third degree assault and she was continued in $500 bail for Special Sessions trial.
A year-long stint as the New York City Board of Elections president followed from 1972 to 1973, as well as some time as the New York City clerk from 1975 to1985. Dinkins then made the jump to running for Manhattan borough president. Here, he announces his candidacy to some supporters.
Dinkins won his bid for Manhattan borough president in 1986 and served until 1989. He was active in his role, as seen here with singer Diana Ross, then-Mayor Ed Koch and then-Parks Commissioner Henry Stern breaking ground at West 81st St. for a long-delayed Central Park playground helmed by Ross, who have $250,000 towards the project.
Dinkins was New York’s city clerk from 1975 to 1985, performing various wedding ceremonies like the one seen here, where he and then-mayor Ed Koch share a laugh with newly married couple Juan and Minerva Torres in the Municipal Building's refurbished wedding chapel.
During his political career, and even after, Dinkins (l.) endorsed many Democratic candidates for office, including Bill de Blasio for mayor in 2013. He and Rep. Charles Rangel (r.) endorsed Jesse Jackson (c.) for President at City Hall in 1987.
Gabe Pressman, left, Democrat David Dinkins, Republican Rudolph Giuliani and Henry Hewes during political debate in 1989.
Crime in New York City decreased dramatically under Dinkins, seen here voting at the Riverside Drive polling place in 1989, is considered one of his great mayoral achievements.
A smiling David Dinkins gives the thumbs-up sign with his wife, Joyce, at his side after his victory in the mayoral race over Republican Rudy Giuliani. Dinkins became New York's first African-American mayor and served from 1990 to 1994.
The Nov. 8, 1989 cover of the Daily News celebrated Dinkins' mayoral victory.
David Dinkins was all smiles after being elected the first Black Mayor of New York City in 1989.
Dinkins also tackled homelessness in the city. Alongside then-Gov. Mario Cuomo (not pictured), Dinkins, here speaking at to a rally of supporters for the homeless with then-mayor Ed Koch (r.), the city’s homeless shelter population fell to its lowest in two decades.
New York City Mayor David Dinkins embraces a supporter at City Hall in 1989.
David Dinkins being sworn in as New York's 106th mayor yesterday by Court of Appeals Judge Fritz Alexander at City Hall in Manhattan on Jan. 2, 1990.
New York City Mayor David Dinkins embraces a young boy near abandoned buildings in the South Bronx in 1990.
While he did visit Crown Heights with then-Police Commissioner Lee Brown (l.) to speak with members of both communities, Dinkins and his administration were blamed for not containing the violence that resulted from the tragedy.
Dinkins (c.) received flak from the public for his lack of action during the Crown Heights riots of 1991, when violence between members of the Black and Jewish community in Crown Heights, Brooklyn ensued after a Jewish man drove his car into two Black children, resulting in the death of one, and a Black teenager, in turn, killed a Jewish man.
Mayor David Dinkins (c.) and Rabbi Butman (r.) march together in the West Indian American Day Parade in Crown Heights, Brooklyn in 1991, two months after the Crown Heights riot created tense relations between the borough's Black and Jewish communities.
New York City Mayor shares a laugh with Columbus Day Parade Grand Marshal Sophia Loren at the event in 1992.
Dinkins poses with his official mayoral portrait in 1995.
Former Mayor David Dinkins is surrounded by students at Martin Luther King High School on Sept. 30, 1995.
Political leader Ruth Messinger and former New York City Mayor David Dinkins having coffee together in 1999.
David Dinkins speaks at the 13th Annual David N. Dinkins Leadership and Public Policy Forum at Columbia University on Feb. 10, 2010. The annual event began 1995, following Dinkins' only term as mayor.
Former New York City Mayor David Dinkins poses for a photo at the School of International & Public Affairs on Dec. 17, 2014 in New York.
Former Mayor David Dinkins looks on as Rev.Al Sharpton donates $5,000 to the Daily News Fund for the family of murdered NYPD member Miosotis Familia at his birthday celebration at the National Action Network on July 8, 2017.
First Lady Chirlane McCray, who served as a speechwriter in the Dinkins administration, called the late mayor an irreplaceable trailblazer.
“It’s impossible to give him fitting tribute in just a few words,” McCray said. “My heart is heavy because he is no longer with us but I can’t help but feel tremendous joy to have known him.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer said that Dinkins’ trademark description of New York as a “gorgeous mosaic” sounds like a truism today but it was a revolutionary concept in a city that was ravaged by a crack epidemic and racial tension.
He noted that the late mayor’s mild demeanor masked a steely determination to impose needed change to a city that was crying out for it.
“Every thing he did was with grace and dignity and a smile,” Schumer said. “Even when he got angry, his voice was soft.”
