“I am the duly elected mayor, I have put this curfew in place,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City.
Following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, violence and looting broke out in streets all over the nation. Such characterized nights were starting to dim when de Blasio set an 8 p.m. curfew for the city. However, widespread circulation of recordings showing the police force’s unnecessary brutality against peaceful protesters during the first hours of the stricter curfew on Wednesday, June 2nd, brought pressure to de Blasio’s words of praise towards New York police’s “tremendous restraint” toward protestors.
The current mayor of New York City has seemingly continued to fumble to the point where former aides are speaking out on his fading popularity surrounding his position in the city office.
“The most charitable assessment is that his mayoralty is currently on life support,” Neal Kwatra. Kwatra, CEO of the successful political consulting firm MPS, was a previous advisor to Mayor de Blasio and Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. Cuomo also mentioned his ability as governor to remove de Blasio from office. Still, he does not think such actions are necessary, yet.
Another former adviser who worked in the mayor’s office for economic opportunity, Essence Franklin, expressed his disappointment in the police’s actions toward curfew enforcement as well as the mayor’s response to the matter. “…to know there were literally people who used to work for the mayor’s office out there that night, who were in that area,” said Franklin.
More past aides, advisors, and counsel of de Blasio spoke out against the police lawlessness. Of these people included Maya Wiley, who, on Twitter, shared the harsh reality of police misconduct through a video taken from that Wednesday night. She encouraged witnesses to the live crime as well as the video to file a complaint against the police with the Civilian Complaint Review Board.
During that Wednesday night, a previous advisor to de Blasio, Jonathan Rosen, pressed for Lawrence O’Donnell, MSNBC host, to question the mayor on this violent video circulating on social media.
What is Mayor de Blasio’s response to these negative rebuttals? He stated that his past associates did not fully understand the ins and outs of the situation, though he still held respect for all of them.
Furthermore, de Blasio said, “For anyone out there who is concerned or criticizing, I’m not sure they understand the depth of the reality of what we’ve faced. We have to keep the peace. We have to keep order. We have to protect our democracy and our democratic rights. We’re striking that balance all the time.”
Unfortunately for Mayor de Blasio, the public of New York City has spoken in regards to their mayor’s handle on the crisis, and they express a lack of favor and faith, which was conveyed to the mayor during his attendance at the Thursday memorial service in Brooklyn.
About Neal Kwatra
Neal Kwatra founded MPS in 2013 and has since been at the forefront of some of the most fiercely contested political and advocacy campaigns in New York and across the nation. Kwatra has fought to uphold his ideals with great tenacity and continues to expand the reach of MPS into the strategic management of nationally recognized grassroots and issue advocacy campaigns.
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