Once Leader of Outcry, de Blasio Is Now Trying to Quell It

New York Times; Michael M. Grynbaum, 7/31/2014

 

Mayor Bill de Blasio barreled into City Hall as a fierce critic of the New York Police Department, leading rallies against the use of the stop-and-frisk tactic and urging a new era of comity between minorities and law enforcement.

Now the mayor is facing his own controversy over the police and race — and he is finding that quelling an outcry can be a lot more difficult than leading one.

As frustrations grow about the death of Eric Garner, a black Staten Island man who died after a confrontation with the police last month, Mr. de Blasio is trying to defend the policy that led to Mr. Garner’s arrest while convincing black leaders that he is still dedicated to reforming a Police Department whose relations with minorities have soured.

It is a delicate balance, even for the rhetorically nimble Mr. de Blasio, a reality underscored by the unusual scenes at City Hall on Thursday. At a meeting hosted by the mayor, the Rev. Al Sharpton blasted the Police Department and demanded punishment of the officers who arrested Mr. Garner, as the police commissioner, William J. Bratton, sat impassively two seats away.

At the same time, grass-roots activists gathered on the City Hall steps. They were the advocates of police reform who marched with Mr. de Blasio during last year’s mayoral campaign, but now his administration had become their target. A chant echoed across the plaza: “N.Y.P.D., keep your hands off of me.”

The mayor is keen to show he is serious about public safety, knowing that a perceived weakness on crime could embolden critics and derail his policy agenda.

But Mr. de Blasio also does not wish to disappoint the activists who view the death of Mr. Garner, arrested for selling illegal cigarettes, as a referendum on the “broken windows” policy of pursuing minor violations that is a focus of Mr. Bratton’s department.

Reporters and television cameras were allowed for the opening minutes of the meeting on Thursday, a highly public way to show that Mr. de Blasio was working to address the Garner controversy, after missing its initial phase during his weeklong vacation in Italy. But it also served to demonstrate the fault lines that the mayor must navigate in the days ahead.

Mr. Sharpton started his remarks with a pointed challenge to the mayor. “Your ability to show some sensitivity has raised hopes and given you the plurality that you got to become mayor,” he said. “But now you’ve got to go from hope to actuality.”

Mr. Sharpton dismissed the suggestion that race was not a factor in Mr. Garner’s death. And in a provocative moment, he said to Mr. de Blasio: “If Dante wasn’t your son, he’d be a candidate for a chokehold,” referring to the apparent choking of Mr. Garner.

Mr. Bratton, who has sparred with Mr. Sharpton throughout his career, showed little reaction, reiterating his pledge to retrain officers in the proper handling of arrests.

But speaking with reporters afterward, the commissioner could not resist a dig at the protesters outside City Hall, dismissing them as “the usual cast of characters.” A spokesman said later that Mr. Bratton had mistaken the protesters for a group that had called for his resignation. But the comment was a jarring contrast to the message of unity and open dialogue that Mr. de Blasio had taken pains to project.

“It’s really, really, really disappointing,” Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said when told of Mr. Bratton’s remarks. “We thought he was a face of change we could believe in.”

For his part, Mr. de Blasio said the meeting had been intended to air tensions.

“I welcome the display of strong views on the pathway to figuring out how we can work together and make change,” the mayor said. “That is part of what the democratic process is about. It should never be feared, it should never be held back.”

Mr. de Blasio called Mr. Bratton “the finest police leader in the United States of America, period” and noted that he had set a tone, early in his administration, for a Police Department that would be “constitutional,” “respectful” and “compassionate.” He said the meeting was “about figuring out how we take real, tangible steps together.”

The stakes for this mayor are high. Mr. Sharpton, speaking in Atlanta on Tuesday at a meeting of the National Bar Association, the largest and oldest group of African-American lawyers and judges, hinted at the expectations that black leaders have of Mr. de Blasio. He said that William C. Thompson Jr., “a qualified, well-versed, good-background black candidate,” was rejected by black voters in last year’s mayoral race “because a white progressive said, ‘I’m going to run against stop-and-frisk.’ ”

“Now the chickens come home to roost,” Mr. Sharpton said. “Now we have Eric Garner.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/01/nyregion/once-leader-of-outcry-now-trying-to-quell-it.html?_r=1