Excerpted from Josh Feldman\’s (short, and incomplete) piece at mediaite.com:
MayorBillde Blasiosaid at a press conference today he has no plans to apologize to theNYPD for his “fundamental beliefs,” but is always willing to cometogether with officers to address their issues. This comes just a dayafter reports of anall-out brawl at a meeting of one of the major NYPD unions overwhether de Blasio should apologize.
Officershave been peeved for weeks because in reaction to the EricGarnergrand jury decision, de Blasio talkedabout racism and how he\’s warned his son Danteabout interactions with the police.
Attoday\’s presser, the mayor said, “The things that I have saidthat I believe are what I believe, and you can\’t apologize for yourfundamental beliefs.”
To read this, you would think that the only problem police have with bill de blasio is the heads-up he claims to have given his son (more on that in a moment).
What was left out is the fact that, for the five-plus months since Michael Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson, Missouri, de blasio has made it eminently clear his sympathies lie with the “protesters” – no matter how many laws they break, no matter how many people\’s lives they disrupt, no matter how vile their attacks on police are, and even when they march down the street screaming for dead cops (we\’ll never know how much encouragement that gave ismaiiyl brinsley to execute officers Ramos and Liu, but we cannot discount that it was a contributing factor).
THAT is why the cops have it in for de blasio.
Regarding de blasio\’s warning to his interracial, but Black-looking and (based on the Afro) Black-feeling son Dante, I would have given him a warning too. There is no doubt at all that young Black males are looked on with more suspicion than others.
But I would have also made it clear to him a) why young Black males are looked on with more suspicion and b) that, while in a force of 34,000 police there will no doubt be cops who have it in for Black people, that is no reason to generalize about all cops any more than Dante\’s color should cause cops to to generalize about him.
Did de blasio tell his son those things? He certainly didn\’t tell us that he did.
So what are we left with? de blasio\’s “fundamental beliefs” that protesters are the good guys and cops, in general, are the ones his son should be worried about? Does anyone with an IQ above 57 doubt why this would be a problem to the NYPD?
Let me end with something I wrote on August 19th of last year – 10 days after the Michael Brown shooting. On Chris Matthews\’ “Hardball” show, Black activist Michelle Bernard had informed us that her 11 year old son was worried enough to ask if someone was going to shoot at him too.
Here is how I suggested she answer:
“There are people in this country who do not like anyone who is Black, and they especially don\’t like Black males – both men and boys.
“Part of the reason is that there are people who are just haters. They come in all colors and they hate all colors. There are White people who hate Black people, Black people who hate White people, and haters of every other kind you can think of.
“It is impossible to explain why they have this hatred, because there is no good reason for it. But they do, and they are out there – lots of them.
“Black males – even Black boys your age – are a special target. One of the reasons is that Black males – even Black boys your age – commit much more crime than non-Blacks – including violent crime such as beating other people up or even killing them.
“I know you don\’t do any of those things, and I\’m sure you never will. Most Black men and boys don\’t. But, because so many do, a White person who does not know you may be afraid you are one of them.
This is very, very unfair to you. But, fair or not, that is the way the world is, and you will have to deal with it now, and probably all your life.
“Another fact that is very unfair to you but you will have to deal with, is that, if you are worried about someone hurting you, your greatest fear should not be White people, it should be other Black people.
It hurts for me to have to tell you this, but you asked a question and, as your mother, I would be wrong not to give you a truthful answer. Black people are about three times as likely as non-Blacks to commit violent crimes and about four times as likely to commit murders compared to their percentage of the population. Most of these violent crimes are commited by Black men and boys. And, over 90% of the time, the people they commit these crimes against are not Whites, but other Black people.
“Again, this does not mean that you have done a thing wrong, or ever will. But it does mean – and I say this with a very heavy heart – you stand a much greater chance of being hurt by someone who is Black than someone who is White, or a police officer, or just about anyone else.
So how can you stay as safe as possible?
“Though you can never know for sure, one way of deciding whether you are safe or not is to see how people dress, talk and generally behave. For example, if you see someone in funky street clothes, with his pants down below his butt, talking trash and using a lot of bad language, I don\’t care what color he is, you probably should be more concerned about him than someone who is dressed, more normally and is acting in a less threatening way.
At 11 years old I hope you know this last part without my telling you, but I just want to be sure.
Now: what would you like for lunch?”
That was good advice then. It is good advice now.
Too bad bill de blasio didn\’t give that advice to Dante. And too bad he is so arrogant, headstrong and foolish that he won\’t apologize to the police force – but, instead, assures them that the things they dislike about him are his “fundamental beliefs”.
If de blasio, instead, had decided to act like a Mayor – like someone with even minimal concern about relations with the police department – that apology would have been made. And it would have been made well before yesterday.
Maybe then he wouldn\’t be despised by so many NYPD officers.
