Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Sharpton, De Blasio End Rumors of Rift With MLK Day Hug

By Jeff Mays | January 20, 2015 8:19am
 Mayor  Bill de Blasio  and the Rev.  Al Sharpton  put to rest rumors that there was a rift between them Monday with a hug and complimentary comments about one another during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event in Harlem. Here, de Blasio sits with Sharpton and Police Commissioner William Bratton at a City Hall press conference about Eric Garner.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Rev. Al Sharpton put to rest rumors that there was a rift between them Monday with a hug and complimentary comments about one another during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event in Harlem. Here, de Blasio sits with Sharpton and Police Commissioner William Bratton at a City Hall press conference about Eric Garner.
View Full Caption
City Hall Flickr

HARLEM — Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Rev. Al Sharpton put to rest rumors that there was a rift between them Monday with a hug and praise for one another during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event in Harlem.

Sharpton has been de Blasio's strongest supporter in the black community but his relationship with the mayor came under attack during a bruising back and forth between the mayor and police unions who insinuated that Sharpton had too much influence over the mayor.

"We did not celebrate the election of de Blasio because we felt we had somebody in City Hall that would do everything we agreed with.," Sharpton said.

"We didn't want a flunkie. We wanted a mayor and we got a mayor that will talk to us and respect us."

De Blasio spoke of how families can disagree but still display unity.

"Families have differences," he said.

"Families can bicker. Families can have moments where maybe they say things they shouldn't have said. But families come together because they feel they are going in the same direction together ultimately."

Criticized for not being supportive enough of police, de Blasio used the legacy of King to talk about the need for peaceful protest, criticizing those who "spew hate" at the police.

"Change the policies. Change the practices. Change the laws but respect the people who protect us as we want them to respect each and every New Yorker in each and every community," he said.

"Model the behavior you expect."

De Blasio also talked about how his policy actions to limit stop and frisk and not arrest people found with small amounts of marijuana were part of King's legacy.

The mayor credited a silent march against stop and frisk that Sharpton led on Father's Day 2012 as helping to galvanize opposition to the practice which targeted mostly black and Latino men, the overwhelming majority of whom had done nothing illegal.

De Blasio was swept into office when he made stop and frisk his top campaign issue. Since he was elected stop and frisks, already on the decline, dropped from a high of 700,000 a couple of years ago to just 47,000 last year, said de Blasio.

Marijuana arrests have dropped 60 percent since he instituted his new policy, the mayor said. He criticized naysayers who said the stop and frisk and marijuana changes would lead to a less safe city. Overall crime dropped again last year.

"A fairer society is a safer society," he said.

"A fairer society opens up doors. A fairer society means police and community can come together."

In spite of a nasty war of words with police and the embarrassing actions of officers who turned their back on de Blasio at the funerals of two officers, the mayor's approval rating has remained steady while the actions of police and union leadership were viewed negatively by New York City voters, according to a pair of Quinnipiac University Polls released last week.

"This  kind of name-calling and ugliness is something that we should never continue in this city. We've gotten out of it before and there's been a relapse," said Sharpton.