America Needs Unity

Floor Speech

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Mr. LATIMER. Mr. Speaker, in today's edition of Politico, there is a story about Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman setting up systems on the border between Nassau County and neighboring New York City, ostensibly to protect Nassau residents from the criminal element coming from their city neighbors.

That is one way for a suburb to act toward the city next door, although it may make it more difficult for the Long Island Mets fans to get to Citi Field or the Queens fans of the New York Islanders to get to UBS Arena. There is another way.

North of New York City, Westchester County and its border communities--Yonkers, Mt. Vernon, Pelham, and New Rochelle--work cooperatively and in harmony with the Bronx. New York City Bronx residents routinely visit New Roc City and Cross-County Shopping Center, and Westchester residents visit and work in Bay Plaza in the Bronx. The Woodlawn neighborhood, with associations and clubs, spans the line between the Bronx and Westchester. The Westchester Bee-Line public bus system takes passengers down to Fordham Road in the Bronx and back. The Montefiore Health System has hospitals in the Bronx and in Westchester and serves clients in between both.

State senators Jamaal Bailey and Nathalia Fernandez join me in representing both sides of the city/county border between the Bronx, New York City, and Westchester County. The brave men and women of the NYPD in the 45th and the 47th precincts work together cooperatively with police from Westchester County and its cities to deter and prevent crime and apprehend criminals when crimes do occur.

Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson and Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins work together to advocate for the Penn Access project that benefits commuters from both counties. We don't need Big Brother intrusive facial recognition checkpoints. We have mutual respect and civic cooperation.

Bruce Blakeman, in his quest for higher office, thinks that turning us into fearful suburbs that resent their urban neighbors is a way to win votes. I grew up in Mt. Vernon in Westchester County a half a block from the border with the Bronx.

My whole life, not just my time in public service, has been about finding and working the common ground that unites us rather than feeding the anger and resentments that divide us. Politicians on the far fringes of each side desire divisions that they believe can lead to elective office, power, and status. It is a false and dangerous path.

The dotted line that divides the city from the suburb is man-made. What we do on the Westchester/Bronx border and at any border anywhere is work together, and that is the prototype for the America that surely needs unity.

Think about how much we are going to need that unity, all Americans working together, when we face the next existential threat to our freedom and democracy, as we did with Nazi Germany and militarized Japan. It is coming, and you know it.

In the Bronx and Westchester, we will be ready. We encourage the Bruce Blakemans of the world to stop pandering and start building the cooperation we will need in the days to come.

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