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Here are portions of an interesting story we posted a while ago. Click here to read more.
Hizzoner Before 9/11: Black Folks And Crime
Bob Herbert column from March 2000 provides a perspective worth considering: The police intercepted the two teenaged boys who were running and opened fire. This was on the night of Feb. 13, 1997. Robert Reynoso, 18, collapsed to the ground with a bullet in his chest. Juval Green, 17, fell with a leg wound. The police would later say they had a gun. There was no gun. And the boys, who survived the shooting, had not been involved in any crime. The police arrested them anyway. The charge — criminal possession of a firearm.
This shooting typified the overly aggressive behavior that became the hallmark of policing under Rudolph Giuliani. The cops were responding to a report of shots fired three blocks away. Not only were Mr. Reynoso and Mr. Green shot, but four other innocent people were arrested.
The police were shooting and rounding up people without the slightest clue as to what was happening, with top officials initially refusing to confirm the four additional arrests.
Here’s another Bob Herbert column, from February 25, 1999:
Mr. Giuliani shut down an entire neighborhood in Harlem and buzzed its residents with police helicopters because he didn’t like Khallid Muhammad.
If you want a a textbook case of how a public official should not handle a crisis, study Giuliani after the Amidou Diallo shooting. Diallo, an immigrant from Guinea, was cornered in his Bronx apartment building by four New York City plain clothes cops. The cops fired 41 shots at Diallo, killing him. Diallo was unarmed and not the suspect; he was just trying to go home.
After the shooting, Giuliani first asked the public not to jump to conclusions. Over the next several days, however, Giuliani seemed more defensive. He recited statistics comparing fatal police shootings in New York with those in other cities, as if to claim the NYPD didn’t shoot as many people as other cops do, so what’s the problem?
Giuliani also failed to reach out to the city’s African Americans. Dan Barry wrote for the New York Times (February 11, 1999): That was the clear message at a news conference convened by C. Virginia Fields, the Manhattan Borough President, and former Mayor Edward I. Koch, "Being Mayor requires a willingness to hear,'’ Mr. Koch said. ‘’So we’re saying to the Mayor: ‘Listen.’ Ms. Fields agreed, saying that "the city must change the tone and move in a different direction.'’ Giuliani initially responded by impeaching the event’s credibility. Six weeks later, the Mayor finally made a gesture toward his critics.