Reverend Al Sharpton Promises to Be ‘Worst Enemy’ of Bill De Blasio
The death of Eric Garner by a New York City police officer has many people upset over the way the situation was handled. Of those people, Reverend Al Sharpton is standing at the forefront. At a recent city hall roundtable, Reverend Al Sharpton became frustrated with the bureaucracy surrounding the incident and vowed to Bill De Blasio:
“I’ll be your worst enemy.”
The focus of the round table was to explore police practices and determine whether police officers are using discriminatory practices, despite Police Commissioner William Bratton’s claims that he is working to reform the department. Mayor De Blassio claimed, during the meeting, that change is occurring within the department. However, Reverend Al Sharpton believes the far city of change to be nothing more than smoke and mirrors to draw attention away from the real issue, the failure to follow proper procedure by police officers. Reverend Al Sharpton used the “stop and frisk” tactic as an example.
“Given the data that we see … it’s disproportionate in the black and Latino community,”
Reverend Al Sharpton had hope that Mayor De Blasio would incorporate change during his time as mayor, but seems to have changed his outlook on his abilities and even used the forum to verbally attack De Blasio’s son.
“If Dante wasn’t your son, he’d be a candidate for a chokehold. And we’ve got to deal with that reality.I think that your ability to show some sensitivity is what raised hope and gave you the plurality that you got to become mayor. But now, I think we’ve got to go from that hope to actuality.”
Reverend Al Sharpton shared his frustration in regards to the way that the officers are being trained by providing a way for the retraining to occure.
“You got to deal with training,” Sharpton said. “But I also think, commissioner, that the best way to make police stop using illegal chokeholds is to perp-walk one of them that did…. It will send a lesson that 10 training sessions will not give them.”
Police Commissioner William Bratton agreed that training is essential, but not necessarily via the suggested means.
I would disagree in some respects with him on the issue. “Training is absolutely the essential catalyst for, out of this tragedy, finding opportunity.”
To strike a bit of peace between Reverend Al Sharpton, Police Commissioner William Bratton, and himself, De Blasio responded by saying:
“I take Rev. Sharpton’s admonition to heart — the time is now. the work of reform takes real intensity, real effort — and some real patience. People want to see the tangible, they want to see results now. I understand that impulse, but I guarantee you, systematic retraining will have a huge impact”
[Photo Courtesy: Breitbart]
