NYC Mayor calls out BLM silence over rising crime: “I Thought Black Lives Mattered?”
NEW YORK, New York – Did New York Mayor Eric Adams say the quiet part out loud? Well, yes he did. Not only did he say it out loud, but he also took it to the big screen and televised his frustrations with Black Lives Matter as his city is facing rising crime.
The Wednesday interview with Ruschell Boone, Dean Meminger, and Anthony Pascale on NY1, started by discussing the arrest of Frank James, who now faces a federal terrorism charge for shooting 10 people on a Brooklyn subway train, but soon the conversation went off the rails leaving a frustrated mayor to ask the question, “I thought Black Lives matter?”
Adams talked about the city’s response to the subway attack, gun control policies he believes need to be adopted, and his proposal to add new gun detection measures to subway stations.
“We cannot say enough about everyday New Yorkers who came together, the tip that lead to his whereabouts, those New Yorkers who assisted the passengers on the train,” Adams said, thanking first responders and “others who came together to ensure we were not going to allow this dangerous person to move throughout our city.”
“We got him and we’re going to make sure that he’s prosecuted and, if all goes well, he will never exit a prison cell again because of the actions he inflicted on innocent New Yorkers,” Adams added.
But Adams was not done.
“I thought Black lives matter?” Adams said, in response to a question about the shootings Tuesday night. “Go do an analysis of who was killed or shot last night.”
“The victims were Black. Many of the shooters were Black,” Adams added, calling for the thousands of New Yorkers who took to the street during the police protests during the summer of 2020 to return to the street in protest of gun violence.
“If Black lives matter, then the thousands of people I saw on the street when [George] Floyd was murdered should be on the streets right now stating that the lives of these Black children that are dying every night matter,” adding, “we can’t be hypocrites.”
“It’s not just the police approach, but we’re not going to ignore the police approach,” Adams said, listing a series of his proposals including revamping the foster care system and boosting summer job programs. “Why are we living in this alternate reality that people don’t realize what’s playing out on our streets every day?”
So now that the Mayor is frustrated, will his actions match his words, or is he all talk?
