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Black leaders are communicating leftist grievances with Eric Adams


Outside City Hall, as a non-profit social justice group announced a public safety report to New York’s blacks, Mayor Eric Adams suddenly emerged from the building.

The mayor strode past, a gesture the nonprofit’s director, Anthonine Pierre, took as a tribute to her team and the issues it was seeking to highlight.

“That’s right,” shouted Mrs. Pierre, who, like Mr. Adams, was black. “Turn your back like you did to our community.”

Mr. Adams’ first months in power were met with mixed reactions, with critics arguing that his aggressive style did not translate into measurable improvements in key areas such as crime. , housing affordability and inequality.

The mayor has come under particularly harsh scrutiny from the left, which has countered Mr. Adams’ aggressive approach to fighting violent crime, a strategy that includes increased police patrols and re-establish mobile anti-gun street teams.

Most of the criticism, however, does not come from the leadership of left-aligned organizations such as the Social Democratic Party of America or the Labor Family Party. It came from their Black members.

Indeed, some of the top white progressives in the city, including the city’s curator, Brad Lander, declined to comment for this article.

“I think white people know they can’t really speak out against Eric right now because they look like racists,” said Pierre, who heads the Brooklyn Movement Center. “Especially in an age of internet political correctness, I think non-Black people are very shy about saying anything.”

A good example emerged last month, when the paragraph the city’s $101 billion budget before that there was a debate over funding for the Police Department and cuts to the school budget. Six abstentions were cast, all by members of Color of the City Council, some of whom identify as socialists or as members of the Social Democratic Party of America.

Jeremy Cohan, co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America group in New York City, said that at the start of Mr. Adams’ term, his team discussed whether to publicly criticize the mayor. are not. The answer, he said, is still somewhat loose.

Mr. Cohan, who is white, said: “Black progressives certainly speak with an air of moral authority. “In politics, there are shared experiences and shared concerns. I think our belief in the DSA is that we need political leaders who have both.”

The absence of widespread criticism from white left-wing Democrats in New York is tied to the way Mr. Adams has chosen to define his political roots.

He has long emphasized his life experience as a Black man who grew up under challenging circumstances in New York. He says he himself has been influenced by the city’s complex and age-old disparities, and realizes how deeply they are tied to racial oppression.

Evan Thies, Adams’ campaign spokesman, said: “This is a guy who has lived the life of someone who is going through so much right now. “It’s real and that’s who he is.”

Above all, the mayor says he has insight into the city’s most pressing problems and is particularly qualified – far more than critics of progress – to assess how to address them. the best.

When the federal government threatened to take control of Rikers Island because of violence and mismanagement, Mr. Adams asked for more time to implement systemic changes. “Why give me a chance?” the mayor said. “Because of the people on Rikers, they look like me.”

When the City Hall press team questioned the mayor about the success of his lobbying efforts in Albany, Mr. Adams pointed out that the reporters covering him were mostly white.

“I’m a black man, that’s the mayor, but my story is being interpreted by people who aren’t like me,” he said. “How many blacks are on the editorial board? How many blacks identify how these stories are being written? “

When the mayor was confronted with a question from “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah, about the balance between funding for police and funding for education and programs that address the root causes of crime. crime, the mayor turned to a personal story.

He tells the story of how his dyslexia was not discovered until he was a teenager, and questions why Black and Latino students continue to do poorly despite a budget of nearly $40 billion. la of the Ministry of Education.

“We’ve been playing for too long,” Mr. Adams said. “You know how much money is made when a child is dyslexic and uneducated, and he’s incarcerated?”

Charlie King, a Democratic strategist and former head of the state’s Democratic party, agrees that dismissing Mr. Adams is unlikely to challenge much of the left-wing establishment.

Mr King said: “He was one step away from homelessness and he was a victim of police brutality. “How many progressive whites have been victims of police brutality? “

Black progressives challenging the mayor do not have the same problem, said Black, Mr. King, as many might cite similar challenges to explain why they oppose his plan. mayor.

Candis Tall, vice president and political director of Local 32BJ at the Service Employees International Union, says she and other left-wing black leaders who disagree with the market’s criminal strategy The chief admits that they need to “control the conversation because we understand the community. “

She admits that even for them, attacking the mayor is not easy. Blacks have been victims of both gun violence and discriminatory policies for decades in the city, and Adams “acknowledges that both exist, which is very real to us.” with everyone, including our members.”

There have been other instances where Black progressives have challenged the mayor. Earlier this month, mostly Black activists gathered in front of City Hall to protest the death of the 10th person in custody on Rikers Island, and criticize Mr. Adams’ support of solitary confinement.

Mayor Adams, your voters are dying,” said Dr. Victoria A. Phillips, who works with the Center for Urban Justice, at the rally. “You said you represent the Black and brown community, well, step up. Step up and save us. “

Early in his term as mayor, he was involved in a confrontation with Congressman Latrice Walker of Brooklyn during a state legislative hearing. When she questioned Mr Adams’ call to strengthen bail laws, he hinted that she had lost contact – suggesting she should consult the mother of a shooting victim recently.

Ms. Walker was quick to counter that the mayor wasn’t the only person qualified to speak about the violence because her 19-year-old brother was shot dead in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn when she was less than 10 years old.

“I know what it’s like to be a victim of gun violence,” Ms. Walker said in an interview not far from where her brother was murdered as tears welled up in her eyes. “I grew up with a fear of gun violence.”

Ms. Walker compared Mr. Adams’ criminal platform to that of former mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, but said it was much easier to criticize Mr. Giuliani, a Republican.

“At least when it was Giuliani, we pointed the finger at him to say: ‘He’s racist and this is not fair,'” she said. “But how do you do that when the mayor is a black man?”

Not every Black progressive leader ostensibly criticized the mayor: Jumaane Williams, the city’s public advocate and the most visible black member of New York’s left wing, had Adams had a good relationship with Mr. Adams for many years, and was measured in the way he shaped his opposition.

At a Town Hall press conference with the mayor in June to announce a “gun violence tsar”, Mr Williams praised the effort but also criticized Mr. comprehensive” of the police in the subway. “We are about to experience the fourth or fifth police reinforcement on the subways and we are still violent,” he said.

Mr Cohan, of the Labor Family Party, said Mr Adams’ worrisome poll numbers would allow people across the political spectrum to “cry more openly”.

“What real improvements have you shown for working people and people of color?” Mr. Cohan said. “There’s not much to say.”



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