The Future of Urban Policing

America's cities. I asked him about that meeting, as well as how he plans to tackle criminal justice in New York City, which saw historic protests against police violence and misconduct last summer. The answers he gave were insightful as to how an Eric Adams administration will work in New York City and what urban mayors across the country are seeing as the big political issues of this moment, Folks.

I'm very excited to welcome to wok a affadaily for the very first time newly mented Democratic nominee for New York City Mayor, Eric Adams, who is here to talk to us today about President Biden's American Rescue plan. Can you talk to us about this multibillion dollar plan to kind of defeat what the President is calling an urgent crisis with regard to gun violence, the upticking gun violence

across the country. I thank you for that, And you know, the main fact of the President's acknowledgement of this crisis means so much. I spent my entire life after being arrested and beat by police officers. And during that same year, boy I lost a good friend of mine during the crack explores he was shot and killed. And about my

years are going in the police department. We fought for justice and safety, and president after president we ignored of what was happening in the inner city of New York and really the inner cities across America, and you see the uptaking violence. And today we're sitting down with the President and speaking with law enforcement experts, a small group, particularly those of us of color, who understand what we

need to be doing, holistically, not heavy handed policing. How do we holistically stop eating the gun crisis and the crime crisis, but also deal with the immediate crisis that's in front of us. Are you concerned? You know, we have a kind of a major Supreme Court case right that is going to be coming down that can authorize the use of guns kind of negate New York's gun laws in the same way that we saw happening in California.

And as a potential incoming mayor for New York, what are you thinking about the ways in which the Supreme Court can negate our ability to keep the city safe. I am very concerned about that. And if you know, New York State is a larger part of that area. We're in New York City. It's a smaller part of New York State. It's a large city. But at the same time, outside the city area, you have some lacks gun rules where you can purchase assault rifles and other

rifles and even carry. But in New York City we have some of the strictest gun rules in the entire country. It's very difficult to get a carry from it. It's very difficult to get a gun license. And so when you lack these rules, you're really jeopardizing the safety of New Yorkers. And many of these locales like Chicago, Detroit and others, we don't produce these guns. They're finding their way from the southern part of the country, and they're coming to our streets and they're taking the lives of

innocent people. And so I think the Supreme Court must make the right decision and allow us to really handle who can actually obtain a gun. What do you say to folks, and I will say myself included, who say that adding more police to a beat, to particular neighborhoods that are seeing an influxing crime is not the best use of our resources, that we should be instead reallocating those funds to prevention methods, to economic development, to mental

health crisis intervention. What do you say to those folks that are concerned that this American rescue plan is justin more incentive to have more cops in a time when we're seeing an escalation in police brutality. As I say, I'm not too quiet, I wrote the song. I agree, we don't have to keep our community safe with visible police presidents. But while we get there, we must stabilize this increase in violence. And while we get there, we must look at those real programs like Crisis Management Team

that I sponsor is support. We must look at how do we move away from eating crime? Some too simple or simple like dyslexia screening in every school. Thirty percent of the prisoners, apporting to one report, our dyslex it In New York City, fifty five percent of our prisoners have learning disability, forty eight percent have mental health issues. And so if we become more proactive instead of reactive

and feeding the crime, we can turn it around. But now as we move to the place of beating the crime, I must tell that grandmother that is afraid to allow her child to go out. I must put the right type of police ten in place, that's not abusive, that's not heavy handed, that is going to come from a community oriented concept, such as allowing the local residents, leaders, youth groups to pick their priest in commanders so their

in alignment with what the community wants. So I agree we should move to the day that we can decrease the number of personnel, but we have to do it in a smart way, because public safety is not something that we can just drastically change without issuing the safety of everyday people in the communities that we are protecting. What do you think is driving this increase, not just in New York City but across the country. Is it

the pandemic is it the loss of jobs? What do you think is driving this increase in gun violence and in violence in general. I believe it's a combination of things. Of course, the pandemic had a major impact on employment. I believe there's a lot of anger and a lot of feelings of being denied access to resources in our community. I believe that we're seeing the coming of age of a large number of people who they were failed by

our educational system. I say this over and over. Gain If you don't educate, you're going to incross the ring. I guarantee you if you do an analysis of the gang members that are driving a lot of i'm in our city, you'll find many of them a gym, learning mental health issues, flexis and other things. And so our efficis has in our country. Always talk about Archbishop Desimon to to quote, we spend a lifetime pulling people out of the river. No one goes upstream and prevent them

from falling in in the first place. We have a downstream mindset in our country and in New York City, where we just way downstream and pull people out. Those young people who age out of course to care look at their numbers they participate in criminal behavior because they didn't have to wrap around services and support. We have to go upstream as a country. And the reason we have been reluctant to do so, sister, because the people

downstream that are pulling out a blackground. I know what it's like to live that life, and it's time for our leaders to be individuals lived a life that people are living. Now we can turn around crime and also turning around lives of people every day, and I'm going to make sure we do that. Can you tell us suggests to you with a few minutes that we have left some of the highlights in the American rescue plan

that President Biden has rolled out and will be rolling out. Yes, I think some very significant parts wrap around services, some of youth employment. I would expand even further and talk about full internship all year round. Exposure is important looking at the crisis management models and those anti violence teams and groups on the ground, identifying hotspots or we know violence actually takes place, information sharing between atf our federal,

state and city agencies. It is about moving this conversation into a holistic approach and treating violence, particularly gun violence, as a public health emergency. So we can allocate the resources to be both prevented and how do we deal with the immediate crisis that we are facing. And I think the plan is doing so. I take my hat off to the President, as I stated, I have not heard another president that has probably identified what is happening.

So so we can't have a hundred shootings in Chicago over the book of July weekend. We can't see this uptake in New York City. We can't see what's happened in Atlanta. Our babies are being traumatized, and no other president stepped up and stated this is unacceptable in America. This president is doing so, and I'm going to partner with him and my local community groups to say that we can bring the level of justice the safety that

we deserve. If you beat your Republican candidate, the Republican candidate and become New York City's only second black mayor, which is remarkable in and of itself and also depressing, What are the first things that you will be tackling on your desk day one? We have to deal with the violence. We just lost a thirteen year old point that was assassinated in Bronx, shot in broad daylight, weld Tenure,

Justin and Rock the way. We're going to deal with the violence with game members for the last two and a half years, talking with those leaders behind closed doors and talking about the violence that they have experience, and we're going to deal with the violence. The prerequisite to prosperity is public safety and justice. But we're not safe, we're not going to be able to do anything. And

then we're going to dig into our educational systems. As I stated, if we don't educate ruling costs of rate, we're going to allocate the funding for our of course to care children so they can get those wrap around services they deserve. And we're going to partner in those first one hundred days with my crisis management team man up atf SOS. They're on the ground, but they don't

have to support that they deserve. And so we're going to make the city a safe place so we can start turning around this city and ending the indequalities with everything from employment to giving people the mental health support they need. So once we build the infrastructure, we can building that infrastruction to show the entire country how cities should be carrying out lifting up everyone in that city

I'm looking forward to joining in New York. Well, we'll continue to watch your race and hope that you make the time to join woke F again when you are officially the newly minted mayor of New York City. Thank you very much for having me take care. That was my brief but enlightening conversation with Eric Adams, the man who will presumably be the next mayor of New York City, only the second black mayor in the city's three hundred

and fifty year history. Let me know what you thought about our conversation by getting at me on social media at D two cents d E two ce nts, and you can keep up with all of my interviews throughout the week by supporting me on Patreon at patreon dot com slash WOKEF. This week, President Biden was in Philadelphia, and in Philadelphia he gave a speech on voting rights

and voting suppression. Now here's the thing, Biden compared, you know, the war that Republicans have waged on our voting rights, the war that they have waged on our democracy, akin to Jim Crow, akin to the KKK, akin to all of these things, and then in the same fucking breath refers to these motherfuckers as his friends. I am just outdone, folks with this performative politics at this grave stage in our political system, in our culture right now, Republicans are

not your friends. They are not interested in collaboration, they are not interested in coordination, they are not interested in the fucking constitution at this point. So referring to them as your friends, unless you are friends with members of the KKK, the White Citizens Council, of the Boogoaloo Boys, you know, whatever range of fucking white supremacist groups, then

I don't know what you're talking about. Also, you know, I have to say this that one of the best tweets that I have seen thus far was from Michael Harriet, senior editor at The Route, and he said, this Biden's speech, Colin, I've just been briefed on a new problem called voter suppression. It sounds terrible. Democracy is threatened when we don't let black people vote. As the most powerful man in America, I say unequivocally, someone should really do something. Anyway, I'm out.

That is basically what I feel about Biden's speech. A speech is not going to get us where we need to fucking be a speech, even if you're screaming it into a microphone and you're getting raucous applause at all the right applause lines are not going to change the fucking filibuster rules. They're not going to change what it is that Republicans are doing across the country. You appealing to their morals when they have shown over and over again that they have fucking none is not going to

help us. And so here's where we find ourselves, folks. It's very fucking simple, right. The fact is that either Democrats are going to get their shit together and they are going to do everything that they can, much like the good fucking Democrats did in Texas, where fifty of them got on a fucking plane left Texas in the midst of the special session so that they were not forced to vote on a measure that they know that Abbott is going to pass to strip people of their

voting rights. They got on a plane and they landed in the nation's fucking capital. That is what I call action, right. Governor Abbott in Texas is threatening to sue's threatening to throw these people in jail, because that is how willing he is to strip the people of Texas of their ability to vote, that he is going to throw his Democratic opponents in jail. What the fuck is this? Is this Cuba? Is it Russia? Is it fucking North Korea?

Because it's sure as hell is not America. And the sooner that people wake up to this fact and stop referring to these fucking insurrectionist, anti democratic motherfuckers as their friends, the sooner that we can actually get action right, that we can get actionable. Because I am at the stage and I have said this on so many woke Wednesdays

right until I am horse. The Joe Mansions and the Kirsten Cinemas of the world should not be walking around with dumb fucking grins on their faces thinking that they are doing something, thinking that they are doubling down on their legacy. They need to be stripped of whatever fucking power that they have, and whatever voting needs to happen needs to fucking happen now. If Democrats do nothing about voting rights, America loses. That is it. We are done.

So Joe Biden can get up on the steps in Philadelphia and talk about the founding of this country and talk about its principles until he is blue in the face because these people are in bed with the Russians, they are in bed with the Trumps. They are in bed with power and greed and will do anything in order to hold onto that. They are showing us that

each and every fucking day. So why we are sitting around and saying, gosh, oh golly, I wish that there was something that we can do to preserve our democracy instead of calling in whatever fucking legions of lawyers, you need to to create a war room to figure out what measures we need to take both in the legislator and in the court system and order to come back

this war that the Republicans are waging. Then we are wasting precious fucking time because midterms are coming, folks, Just like in Game of Thrones when winter was coming, fucking

midterms are coming. Republicans know this, and they are hoping to God that they have instilled enough voter suppression laws so that they can win back the seat of power and make sure that they obstruct until this administration is done so that they can get back into what they want to do, which is creating authoritarianism and fascism in America, whether they do it with Trump or some other fucking puppet. That is the plan. So Biden says in his speech. Well,

you know, I don't want to scare you. I don't want to seem like I'm ringing in alarm. But if you are not alarmed, then that is the problem. Well, my whole thing is this, sir. You are the president of the United States of America. You are the leader of the quote unquote what is left of the free fucking world. If you are not taking action other than standing at a podium and yelling into a microphone, then I don't know what the fuck you're doing. Because here's

a thing. I'm a fucking podcaster, right. All I can do is yelling to a microphone and encourage people and rile people up to get them actionable. You are the goddamn president. There has to be something else that you can do other than give a speech, right, other than call a summit to the White House with people who literally walk out on your front lawn and call you a fucking liar and call you a traitor. But you're welcoming them in, miss me with the bullshit. America, our democracy,

everything that we hold dear is hanging on by a thread. Right. We still have a pandemic that is raging. As doctor Jonathan Metzel told us, we are probably at the beginning of the fourth wave. And regardless of how well quote unquote blue states have done with their vaccination rollouts, we do not exist in a bubble. That is the great lesson from twenty twenty. So what the fuck is happening in the South will indeed get to blue states around

the country. So, folks, if you have friends and family and colleagues that have not yet been vaccinated, ask them if they're ready to die. Ask them if they're good with how their life is at this moment, because the end will be near. The delta variant is more deadly, easily contracted than the original form. We have oceans and forests that are on fire as well as our democracy, And I am just confused right now with how Democrats

are doing nothing about anything of consequence. Nothing is happening. Where the fuck is the infrastructure bill? Where the fuck is a climate change bill? Where the fuck is the John Lewis Voting Rights Act? Where are the federal judges that you need to be stacking the courts with? What the fuck have you been doing for the last seven months? Look, I am very happy with the way that the Biden Harris administration has rolled out our vaccination plan. I am

thrilled about that. But I am thrilled about the fact that many Americans received a fourteen hundred dollar check. I am happy about the fact that those people with children are receiving child tax credit, right, I am happy about that. But the rest of the world. The country is on fire, literally and figuratively, and if we do nothing with regard to voting rights, we are fucked. I for one know, and this is what I will be working on next week.

My passport expires in the fall. I suggest that everyone check their passport dates and make sure that their papers and everything are up to date, because Lord only knows what we are headed into. But I can tell you it ain't fucking good. It really is not. And I don't care how comforting Joe Biden is. Right now, I do not need a comforter in chief. I need a warrior. I need a commander in chief. I need somebody that

is going to go to the fucking mats. I need somebody that is going to go bloody, that is going to come back with fucking teeth and hair and blood. That's what the fuck we need right now? So until Democrats get that through their thick skulls, we are at risk. And Republicans know it. That's why they are pulling this shit, because they know that they are dealing with a bunch

of spineless, fucking jellyfish. And you know what, I don't even know why I use that comparison, because when you get too close to a jellyfish, those motherfuckers sting you. What did Democrats do? They welcome you to a fucking beer summit. I'm over them and I am over this. Wake the fuck up. Start calling your members, Start calling your senators, Start calling those that aren't your senators. Call Mansion, call Cinema, tell them that they need to take action.

If they like their fucking jobs and they want to keep it, then do something about it. We are in trouble. We are in trouble. Where are the Senate committee hearings? Where are these people being brought in and dragged in under oath about what they knew and what they did not do? I swear to God, what are Democrats campaigning on in midterms? Because it's sure as fuck can't be. Give me more power because you don't know what the fuck to do with the power that we gave you

right now and I from one am disgusted. That is it for me today on Woke af AS always, Power to the people and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.