New York City, NY – Mayor Eric Adams’ candidacy and then victory in 2021 was the perfect establishment response to the 2020 uprising: electing someone who is both African American and a former police officer. Adams was a founder of the organization 100 Black Men in Law Enforcement Who Care, an advocacy group that focuses on the relationship between Black men and the NYPD, including addressing problems such as racial profiling and police brutality. With this history, it seemed as if Adams would be ready to “take on” the NYPD and their pattern of violence against Black and other communities in New York City. So far, his time as mayor has shown that he not only wants to maintain the status quo of policing, he is advocating plans that will lead to more police crimes.

More money for cops, less for social programs

In June, the New York City Council passed the 2023 fiscal year budget, which includes more than $11 billion in spending for the NYPD. Even though Mayor Adams has stated that this would not include increasing the number of officers, funds are being used for the new anti-gun unit created by the mayor, and nothing about dismantling units like the Strategic Response Group, which targets, harasses and arrests people exercising their right to protest.

Meanwhile, the New York City Housing Authority is crumbling, and the Department of Education will be decreasing its budget by $1 billion. New York City schools are already extremely segregated due to “school choice,” and decreasing funding will only make this problem worse and hit economically disadvantaged students harder. It is alarming to see that Mayor Adams would rather siphon funds from social programs to maintain police violence in New York City instead of improving schools and housing to help the people.

Blueprint to end gun violence

One issue that has been spread across New York media is the concern over rising gun violence. One major event that helped give this attention was the killing of two NYPD officers in Harlem. Various solutions to this problem would be to improve and fund programs that help prevent crimes from happening, such as after school problems and social services, but Mayor Adams’ idea of combatting gun violence is through increased police presence in New York City and further penalizing already targeted communities.

Some ways he wants to do this are to strengthen the relationship between the NYPD and state police, using surveillance technology to catch people before a crime is even committed, and prosecuting 16- and 17-year-old teenagers as adults for gun possession. Such measures would focus primarily on Black and other oppressed communities, limiting gun rights while contributing to the already glaring problem of racist policing in the city.

Homeless encampment evictions

Mayor Adams has stated that his plan to resolve homelessness is a question of “public safety,” while enacting policies that further endanger people experiencing homelessness. Between March 18 to May 1, NYC carried out 733 “cleanups” across the five boroughs. Along with the violence committed during these evictions, such actions also do not end homelessness, but rather put people in a cycle in and out of the failing shelter system. Providing permanent housing to people experiencing homeless would be a better, long-term solution, but Mayor Adams would rather give Band-Aid solutions and attack those without stable housing.

It is apparent that Mayor Adams’ experience as a cop has influenced how he governs the city. This is why New York Community Action Project will be holding a rally against Mayor Adams demanding No Cops in Power. The rally is on Friday October 14 at 5:30 p.m. by the Broadway & Murray Street entrance of City Hall in Manhattan.

For more information, visit nycap.org, our social media pages of Facebook and Instagram, or e-mail us at [email protected].

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