Brooklyn City Councilman Jumaane Williams voiced his support for newly-elected City Council Speaker Corey Johnson at a National Action Network event Saturday in Harlem with Rev. Al Sharpton.

Johnson acknowledged the audience's desire to have a black city council speaker, such as Williams, who was in the audience. 

In what was a departure from his previous comments, Williams voiced his support for Johnson, signaling they would work together.

Johnson also assured the crowd that he would listen to all of their concerns, as much as he would to any other New Yorker's.

"Being an openly gay man, being the only openly HIV-positive elected official in the state of New York, being someone who grew up in public housing, not coming from a wealthy family — those are things that are not the same as being of color in any way whatsoever," Johnson said. "But I hope it's given me the sensitivity and the compassion to stand with and want to work with communities that have been oppressed and marginalized historically and systematically."

Sharpton said that while he had hoped to see the election of the first black city council speaker, he also has faith in Johnson, who worked on Sharpton's 2004 presidential bid.