<p>He sure as hell better have that conversation!!! I started having those conversations with my son when he began walking to the park with friends to play bball & skate. He was 12. It has been ingrained in his head for the past 12 years. Should he tip toed around that fact? He gets it! Being a white man with a black son! He can fully understand that his son is an automatic criminal in the eyes of many police officers & others in America for that matter. As a parent, it’s gut wrenching to have such a burden placed on a young mans shoulders.</p>
<p>I watched the mayor’s press conference and I am not exactly sure that he said anything the police should be outraged about. These situations in my mind should never be either you are totally for me or you are totally against me. The mayor saw what most of us saw a situation where we felt their was police abuse and he spoke out about that. he also discussed a very real feeling in the AA community that there is not an even playing field within the justice system. Trying to blame the mayor for these murders is wrong.</p>
<p>The police are also mad that the mayor supports the right of the people to protest. </p>
<p>Frankly, any public official who doesn’t support the right of the people to protest - whatever they are protesting about - including police tactics - shouldn’t be an elected official of anything. </p>
<p>Actually, I don’t see anything wrong with what Reverand Al said above. I also don’t see anything wrong with what the mayor said about warning his son about interactions with the police. The child does have to be more careful, and yes, there are bad cops out there. None of that should be controversial. </p>
<p>The police are not angry that the mayor supports the right of people to protest. The police have been the ones protecting the protesters. The matches that lit this current flame were two things. First, during one of the protests, and there is video, two lieutenants acted to protect the safety of protesters from a dangerous wacko in attendance. Four officers were beaten by the protesters and injured including broken bones. The mayor, despite the video, called it an alleged attack. Then, a vocal minority created a new chant to which they could march and about which the mayor was silent, and I heard this with my own ears, “what do we want? Dead cops. When do we want them? Now.” Well they got them and need to live with the consequences. </p>
<p>This mayor was elected resoundingly. He was also the great hope of the unions, so he did not take office against the cops. He did this all by himself. He was not ready for this office and never expected to be elected. This is yet another example of electing someone to an important job without the right temperament and qualifications.</p>
<p>It really is remarkable how some people can actually defend or excuse this. I guess it plays into their own personal worldview. Facts and decency be damned. But chaos, division and violence are political tactics in some quarters.</p>
<p>Tom. The police outrage came before and is at least partially justified (remember, this mayor is a democrat and the unions are his base). And it doesn’t have to do with the fiction being spun here. You are missing all the facts and I wish you wouldn’t pass judgment without them. The press conference was an exercise In utter disingenuousness and ignoring everything that brought us to this point is very unfair to the police. The ill will started before Mr. Garner’s homicide.</p>
<p>Doesn’t the “ill will” go back to years of racially motivated stop-and-frisk policies? Not to mention other high-profile incidents of police brutality–Nathaniel Gaines, Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell?</p>
<p>As for the chant of a vocal minority, that’s all that is. A chant of a vocal minority. I hear or read things every day that are every bit as awful and offensive. As long as we have freedom of speech in our country, we are going to have wackjobs that say inflammatory things like that. You can’t blame the mayor for everything.</p>
<p>The mayor’s press conference was extremely anti-cop and extremely inflammatory and not okay in any way, shape, or form. Naïve would be putting is nicely, but maybe it was naïve in that he was playing to his base. But, it was disgraceful.</p>
<p>Once again, zoosermom nails it. As someone who is right there in the middle of it, paying attention and not full of rhetoric and bs, I believe the picture she paints is dead on.</p>
<p>While certainly the mayor cannot be blamed for everything, he is the leader of the city. The people that work to protect the city need to feel like he supports them. Quite obviously, they don’t, and he is going to have a tough time getting their trust back. Not everyone is capable of being a good leader.</p>
<p>I agree with you, busdriver. He may not be the right person for the job.</p>
<p>But the people who work to protect the city also have to do their jobs responsibly. The recent killings of civilians like Eric Garner and Akai Gurley do not instill a lot of confidence in the NYPD.</p>
<p>Mayors and other leaders have a responsibility to try to tamp down violence not gin it up by expressing outrage and anger. Back in 1992, I remember watching Mayor Bradley’s press conference after the Rodney King verdict. Instead of saying ‘we must respect the rule of law’, he expressed anger and outrage at the verdict and put gasoline on the fire. 50 some people were killed in the subsequent riots. </p>
<p>I was commenting solely on the press conference. I did not think the press conference taken by itself was anti-cop. Now while I live in NJ I will admit that I have not been following the entirety of the mayor and the police issues.
I agree that how I see the press conference and how the police may see the press conference would be different if there were other prior issues.</p>
<p>I do believe the mayor should consider how the police consider all his words and actions and it is up to him as the leader to mend fences. I also think the police need to understand how groups of citizens see them and it is up to the police to take steps to mend those fences. And I am not referencing criminals when I refer to the police mending fences. There is a significant cross section of minority groups that the police need to reach out to and improve their interaction with.</p>
<p>Yes, well this whole anti-cop movement started with the Ferguson case where the suspect was a criminal and no-one seems to want to explain these details to the angry mob. They are aware of them, though.</p>
<p>No, it didn’t, marie. Why do you keep saying this when there is ample evidence spanning decades across communities all over the U.S. that directly contradicts your opinion?</p>
<p>I am not excusing anything. Again, it’s incredibly easy for people to take that view when you haven’t walked a day a black mothers shoes. I find it quite offensive & disheartening! </p>
<p>“The mayor, despite the video, called it an alleged attack.”</p>
<p>A lot of public officials are very careful and take pains to use the term “alleged” before someone is convicted of a crime. It’s quite common. </p>
<p>“t really is remarkable how some people can actually defend or excuse this. I guess it plays into their own personal worldview. Facts and decency be damned.”</p>
<p>It is really remarkable how some people can actually defend and excuse police killings of unarmed blacks. I guess it plays into their own personal worldview. Facts and decency be dammed. </p>
<p>As for the mayor’s silence about the chant - I agree, he should have said something while also speaking out for the protesters right to protest and their tight to chant whatever they want. </p>
<p>Both sides, imo, need to think a bit about what they say or don’t say. I was outraged last week when the president of the Cleveland police union demanded an apology from the football player and the Browns who wore t-shirt which said “Justice for Tamir Rice and John Crawford” when he came onto the field. </p>
<p>Marie, there was video of Garner’s murder, too! And yet that act was obviously “alleged” since nobody is being held responsible for it. What’s good for the goose doesn’t seem to be good for the gander in your opinion.</p>
<p>I saw the mayor after he made the “alledged” statement in another press conference and he addressed that. He condemned the attacks. Now the issue becomes do the police think his initial statement implies he does not support them and his correction of that statement means nothing? If that is the case the mayor has a lot of work to do to restore their trust. That does not mean he should not take corrective action in areas it needs to be taken.</p>
<p>Marie, there was video of Garner’s murder, too! And yet that act was obviously “alleged” since nobody is being held responsible for it. What’s good for the goose doesn’t seem to be good for the gander in your opinion. </p>
<p>What? That doesn’t make it alleged. It also happened and no-one says it didn’t. And, I didn’t say anything about it all. Oh my god.</p>