Chair Williams thanks panel and discusses draft riots history

Thank you.

And as I've said in other panels, please reach out to us and let us know.

I mean, I think the library systems are so large and sometimes the advocacy doesn't get into the nuances, to be frank.

So it's a pleasure to learn about what the libraries are doing, but also a little alarming that we really didn't have this information prior to this hearing.

But I guess that's what hearings are for, for people to, for us as members to hear and learn from your institutions and from the public.

We recently passed a bill in the council around the draft riots, so we should definitely connect because we hope that DCLA will do something to mark this dark time in New York City history.

I think we have a...

A tendency to look at all the flowery and nice things that have happened, but we sort of skip over the dark past.

So we'd love to connect with you and look forward to working with all of you, especially you all as well.

Thank you.

Yeah, go ahead.

I just wanted to say that during the draft riots, we've all heard of the Weeksville community, but during the draft riots, Brooklyn was a refuge.

It was the place that people went.

Brooklyn was a wilderness at that point, especially mid-Brooklyn.

So there's so much history there.

We walk those streets and it reminds me to remind people that we're all...

connected, the people that are going through things today, the people that are seeking refuge in Brooklyn today are connected to those people whose families met those ropes.

Yeah, and I learned the other day, you just mentioned it, that the draft riots were also happening in the Bronx.

And I think sometimes we focus on Manhattan, the city, but it did happen in other parts of New York City.

So we definitely should connect.

If you're not already connected to Regina or Shaquille from my office, who's probably floating around, I would love to connect with you all and continue the conversation.

Great.

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.