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VOLUME 27 ISSUE 7
FEBRUARY 28, 2017 - MARCH 8, 2017
Since 1989
MAYOR DELIVERS REMARKS AT ONE HUNDRED BLACK MEN GALA
Have you noticed how good news does not travel very far, very fast? You will remember in the 2013 election the discussion of ending a broken and unconstitutional policy of stop-and-frisk. And you will remember that a many people who believe themselves to be authoritative voices in our city said that if that was done, we would be reduced to crime and chaos and we would go back to the bad old days.
I was undeterred by those stereotypes, by a line of reasoning that made no sense to me because I felt all along that a policy that created disrespect, particularly towards our young men of color, was not going to possibly move us forward. And that fact – it was that broken policy of standing in the way of the kind of bond between police and community that would be the beginning of a safer city. Simple as that. We couldn’t get safer unless we fixed what was broken and got rid of the rift created by the misuse of stop-and-frisk. And many people doubted. And year one – the city got safer, and they said well, it’s too soon to tell. Year two – the city got safer, and they said well, we need a little more time. After year three, the silence was deafening from the critics. A few even acknowledged their error, which is a rarity and is always appreciated. For three years, we’ve proven that – stop-and-frisk is down 93 percent from the time I took office. Crime has gone down for three years running. 2016 by every statistical measure was the safest year on record in the history of New York City. Simple as that. For those of you who actually remember the bad, old days. One
the very challenge that we face, emanating from Washington, D.C., has caused an awakening. I have been involved in public life for decades. I literally have never seen anything like the last few weeks. I don’t mean just the outrageousness, and the inappropriate comments, and the tweets at 3:00 am. I’m talking about the people’s response. Inauguration Day was one thing. I am much more interested in the day after Inauguration Day when 3 million people marched around this country.
of the things that shocked me so positively – the last day of the year of December 31st, we were all waiting to see the final numbers come in. And those numbers represent human beings in the end. They represent people who got hurt or didn’t get hurt, who lived or died. That’s what those police statistics mean. We found on the last day of the year, that for the first time in recorded history, New York City for an entire year – in a city of 8.5 million people, we had under 1,000 shootings in all of New York City. This is simply to say that together – so many people in this room were a part of this – of demanding the change we needed, of believing that we had to do something differently, that we were not going to be constrained by what we had been told over and over in the past. We all proved it together. And the basic thing is we are far from done. This is not the safest this city can be. This is surely not the fairest this city could be. We’ve got a lot more we’re going to do. And all the while with a new approach called neighborhood policing that
will bring police and community together. But I want to now shift the discussion to I think what’s been such a passion of everyone in this room, which is economic empowerment. And as I do that, I do want to note – Michael talked about what was lost in this city after 1993. I remember vividly because I was working for Mayor Dinkins and I remember the next day where the progress started to be torn down, including efforts that were designed to address the unfairness of history and create economic empowerment for those who hadn’t had enough. I can tell you for sure, all the work we’re doing now was made so much more possible because of what David Dinkins did achieve. On the topic of economic empowerment, we’re living in an extraordinary moment of history – in many ways a painful moment of history – a moment where our progress is in doubt – is being assaulted in so many ways. But it’s not a hopeless moment. It’s not a hopeless moment at all because
The same town hall meetings, a decade earlier, that were the bane of Barack Obama’s existence have now become the greatest validation of Barack Obama’s legacy.
—Mayor De Blasio
So this is not a hopeless time. What’s happening in the Oval Office, for a lot of us, is unfathomable, but what’s happening in every neighborhood, in every city, in every town, is what will ultimately determine our destiny. There is such a clear understanding now that we cannot accept a society in which only a few can get ahead. And I’ll simply say that the President is going to try and put forward policies that will only deepen that stratification and that unfairness, and I assure you they will be met with a similar response from the people. Finally something I know this organization has focused on direct economic empowerment by using the tools of government to right the wrongs of the past, and actually open doors that were closed, and get resources in the hands of companies that will do the most organic and wonderful thing – they will hire people from the neighborhoods of New York City.
INSIDE T HIS IS SUE :
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February 28, 2017 - March 8, 2017
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