Members of Rehoboth Church who help Mayor Eric Adams lay their arms on him and provide prayers on Feb. 17, 2025.
Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
As Mayor Eric Adams fights for his political life, a few of his most ardent supporters preached their continued religion in him on Monday throughout a rally at a Brooklyn church.
Quite a few neighborhood and clergy leaders got here collectively on Feb. 17 at Rehoboth Cathedral in Ocean Hill to voice their unyielding help for the embattled mayor. Adams has confronted a barrage of requires his resignation or removing from workplace after the Trump Justice Division moved final week to dismiss the federal marketing campaign fraud indictment in opposition to him.
The mayor himself confirmed up for his trustworthy flock on a day by which his administration misplaced 4 deputy mayors who submitted their resignations over his cooperation with President Trump on immigration crackdowns and different insurance policies because the felony expenses in opposition to him have been dropped.
The group chanted “Four more years!” for Adams, who took a shot at Public Advocate Jumaane Williams — a frequent critic of his who would grow to be appearing mayor if Adams resigned or have been faraway from workplace.
“What has he put out to show that he is fighting for the people? Do an analysis,” Adams charged.
As Mayor Eric Adams fights for his political life, a few of his most ardent supporters preached their continued religion in him on Feb. 17, 2025 throughout a rally at Brooklyn’s Rehoboth Cathedral.Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
Supporters of Mayor Adams, similar to 94-year-old Reverend Herbert Daughtry Sr., touted Hizzoner’s management as instrumental in resulting in reductions in crime and weapons on the streets. He additionally pointed to a reported 20% lower in Black and Latino unemployment.
For Rev. Bruce Brown, a member of Rehoboth’s clergy group, the rally was a “a platform for community voices to highlight the significant accomplishments of the mayor and his administration to counteract the misinformation that has been circulated regarding the recent federal charges that the US Department of Justice has dropped.”
Rev. Kenneth Seabrooks, pastor of Rehoboth Cathedral and a long-time Adams ally, reminded the group that he has identified the mayor for “more than 27 years” and that he’s not a traditional politician.
“There are many, many folks out there who are career politicians. Eric Adams is not one of them,” Seabrooks mentioned of the mayor, who was beforehand Brooklyn borough president and a state senator. “Please know, Mr. Mayor, that against the backdrop of the insidious negative noise and pressure around this city is a steady stream of prayers being lifted on your behalf.”
The trustworthy at Rehoboth, who prayed on and for the mayor, demonstrated that exact level. Seabrooks instructed him to “keep fighting because the bend in the road is not the end of the road.”
Opponents of Mayor Eric Adams picketed outdoors Rehoboth Cathedral in Brooklyn on Feb. 17, 2025 calling for his resignation or removing from workplace by Gov. Kathy Hochul.Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
Mayor Adams, in the meantime, recalled the recommendation of his “spiritual father,” Bishop Johnny Seabrooks,” whom he recalled telling him, “Once you walk, he said, God has an unusual way of taking the ditch that your enemies have dug for you, put in water and teach you how to swim.”
“You’ll take every lie told and transform it into the best PR you could ever get,” Adams added, insisting as soon as extra that he has no plans to step down as mayor. He additionally spoke of holding related rallies within the coming days across the metropolis.
Mayor Adams repeatedly insisted that there was no “quid pro quo” in his felony case and that he was not beholden to anybody however New York’s residents. Twice on Sunday, throughout appearances at Queens homes of worship, Adams rebuffed requires his resignation, telling the congregants, “I am going nowhere.”
In the meantime, Gov. Kathy Hochul is underneath growing stress to train her Metropolis Constitution authority and take away Adams from workplace—an unprecedented transfer within the metropolis’s historical past. Amid the fallout from the Justice Division’s request to dismiss the Adams case, Hochul instructed MSNBC she was weighing her choices concerning Adams’ future however didn’t dismiss the potential of in search of the mayor’s removing.
