Adams to Adams. The Mayor and the Madam.
I said: “Who are you? Not everyone knew you before. How did you get to be the Number One guy in the world’s Number One city?”
Eric: “For 28 years I’ve been preparing to be the second black mayor New York’s ever had.”
So you never felt you were judged more harshly because of the color of your skin?
“There’s no blanket ‘yes’ to that answer. I can say a pocket of people think, ‘Well, he’s not like the one we’d really want to represent us.’
“I have white supporters, Asian supporters. My friends are nice black people. My voters are a melting pot.
“Look, I’m a blue-collar civil servant. I did not attend the schools they did. I wasn’t in their same clubs. Not the same criteria. If I had, maybe their attitudes would be different.
“So, yes, I am aware there’s a list of subjects with that group where I don’t exactly fit.
“They don’t always feel comfortable with me. I’m just not their kind.
“These people are fundraisers. Top of every board. At the Met, with the Conservancy. Elite class of the city. I’ve been able to gather a body of them even though some will think, ‘But he’s just not our stock.’
“Look, I had a different upbringing. Three brothers, two sisters. Dad a butcher from the South. Good person but always running around.
“My mother cleaned houses and ironed a thousand pillow cases and shirts. I’d test the iron. Scorch one meant a month’s salary.
“Damn, I wish I’d been different. But I was dyslexic. They didn’t know what that was then. I screamed. Words ‘dumb student’ were scrawled on my chair.
“I hated school. Angry. Wayward. I yelled as a child. Hated the police. Cops arrested me at 15.
“Eventually, my mother poured energy into me through her prayers.”
A visit from Hizzoner
Eric Adams was due at my home 6:30. He called personally to change to 7:30.
My housekeeper had left. He said: “No problem. I know how to do dishes.”
Hizzoner was prompt. Security types outside. Removing his jacket which my dog hoped to destroy, he inhaled thrown-together deviled eggs and tuna and said: “Working to keep a roof over our heads, mom saw me enter the Police Department, become lieutenant, captain, state senator, borough president and onto the mayoral campaign trail.”
He took two calls. His cell on my table.
Then: “I was there when her heart monitor went off. But the doctor said she’d see me make it before her transition. And I then picked myself up sitting at that kitchen table when mommy told me, ‘Life is pain. Turn pain into purpose.’ ”
That meant meditation. Community college. Remedial classes. “A D student, I learned math, English. People began caring for me. The sky started to open and I decided nothing can wear me down.”
An hour and a half later the Honorable Eric Adams, Mayor of the City of New York, then put on his jacket, hugged my dog, grabbed his phone and headed to Zero Bond for a main dish.
