HARLEM — Mayor Bill de Blasio said President Barack Obama's summit to address police and community relations was a necessary step to deal with the racist "scourge" of young men of color being killed by police.
"We’ve lost so many young men of color — young men who should still be alive and with us today — and it’s clawing at us," the mayor said at the Apollo Theater in Harlem after giving a speech at a World AIDS Day event.
"It’s clawing at people of all backgrounds. There’s a sense that something is wrong in this country that’s going unaddressed."
De Blasio then headed to Washington, D.C., where he was one of the elected and law enforcement officials from around the country to meet with the president and Vice President Joseph Biden.
The meeting comes in the wake of a grand jury decision in Ferguson, Mo., not to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the killing of unarmed man Michael Brown.
Protests against the decision in Ferguson turned violent.
Here in New York City, de Blasio has had to reckon with the death of Eric Garner, who was placed in an apparent chokehold by police, and the recent unprovoked shooting death of Akai Gurley, an unarmed man who was shot in the stairwell of a Brooklyn public housing complex by a rookie cop on patrol.
Garner's case is being heard by a Staten Island grand jury and Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson is investigating Gurley's shooting death.
De Blasio said racism was also an issue.
"We know these problems are based in not just decades, but centuries of racism, but we have to take responsibility," the mayor said. "That’s what our generation has to resolve. We have to find a way to end this cycle."
Obama announced Monday that he was requesting $263 million to purchase body cameras for 50,000 police officers around the country. The equipment would provide insight into police and community interactions, according to the White House.
Public Advocate Letitia James, a vocal advocate for police body cameras in New York City, heralded the announcement.
"Police-worn cameras are also the single most effective way to enhance accountability and transparency in policing," James said in a statement.
"I call on all policy-makers nationwide to move swiftly to make body-worn cameras a reality."
De Blasio said the city is making changes to improve police and community relations, including moving toward police body cameras.
"We’re strengthening our oversight mechanisms like the CCRB (Civilian Complaint Review Board) and the (NYPD) inspector general," de Blasio said. "We’re reducing marijuana arrests. We’re moving towards body cameras. There’s so many things we have to do, but it’s still just the beginning."
