Black Star News Editorial
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
Mayor Eric Adams made dubious history on Thursday when he was indicted by the federal government on bribery and campaign finance offenses. Whether Adams is guilty of those charges remains to be proven in court.
But there is one thing Adams is already guilty of: betraying Black New York City voters who put their trust in him.
During the mayoral race, of 2021, Eric Adams portrayed himself as a figure Black New Yorkers could trust to deal with the economic and criminal justice challenges that they face. And, in the wake of the national outcry following George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis Police, Adams argued that as a former NYPD captain he had a unique background that would enable him to bring needed change to policing in New York City. He promised he would reform the NYPD, even getting an endorsement from Abner Louima, who was viciously brutalized—and sodomized by NYPD officers in 1997.
But it became clear, even before Adams assumed office, that he had conned Black New York voters.
For years, Black New Yorkers have been calling for changes to the institutional racist criminal justice system. One issue that criminal justice advocates had been fighting against is the city’s unfair bail system. In 2019, those efforts finally paid off when a bail reform bill was passed.
But two months into Adams administration he traveled to Albany and tried to pressure lawmakers to weaken the reform bill. He made the debunked claim (even the New York Post wrote about this) that the bail reform bill was responsible for a spike in gun crimes.
So, why did Adams make this lying claim? Who was he serving when he tried to kill a bill that was passed particularly to help poor Black people caught up in the tentacles of a biased legal system?
The answer to that is clear. He was serving the people who he has real allegiance too: his brothers in blue. The NYPD hated the reform bill from the very beginning. Who better to advocate for murdering it than a Black-skin Judas?
Ask yourself this: isn’t it interesting police groups have not been critical of Adams, like they have been for previous mayors? Obviously, they think he is doing a great job—for them.
Another early action of Adams was when he sent then NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell to complain to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The issue? Another bogus assertion: that Bragg’s decision to no longer prosecute low-level crime would, somehow, jeopardize the safety of police officers.
Of course, what was in jeopardy here is the racially targeted ticketing, summonses, and arrests quotas police are required to produce, at the economic expense and misery of our people. Adams’ bosses are very comfortable criminalizing and exploiting Black people. And this Black-skinned Benedict Arnold barters his melanized pigmentation to facilitate their hate, and apparently his, for Black folk.
Adams’ tenure will also be remembered for all the hurtful austerity cuts he enacted. He pushed cuts for basically everything including education and closing libraries. If we agree education is an important tool for a better life, how can politicians, who say they care, like Adams, be so quick to call for cuts in education? Do cuts in education help or harm crime statistics?
But for politicians, like Adams, the only sure policy to reduce crime is giving police more money to brutalize Black and Latino communities. Earlier this year, families of people killed by NYPD were re-traumatized in the face of Adam’s actions to veto a police reform bill. At one point, he stated the bill would endanger police and said, “no way I will sign this.”
Recently, he has been promoting the latest police project: New York’s version of cop city. And the New York Civil Liberties Union just reported that “NYPD stops have risen dramatically under Mayor Adams and so has police impunity.”
During Adams’ Thursday press conference there was something visually very interesting going on: an absence of the police brass who Adams primarily works for. Will any of his high-ranking police handlers step up to speak up for him? Adams was instead surrounded by Black supporters—like those who he has used as expendable stepping-stones in his corrupt ascent to power.
Black Americans are loyal to a fault in protecting powerful Black personalities when they find themselves in legal turmoil. Given American racism this should surprise no one. However, we must ask ourselves why we should remain loyal to those who use their Black skin to sell us out, for money, position and power? Isn’t it ironic that someone who was enabling the criminalization of Black people will now expect us to have his back?
Will Eric Adams be eventually found guilty of criminal crimes? Who knows. By the allegations in the federal indictment, it sure looks likely.
However, Eric Adams is already guilty of betraying Black New Yorkers.
