Former New York City Mayor, Rudy Giuliani took offense at current Mayor Bill de Blasio’s comments, in the wake of the Grand Jury decision not to indict a police officer in the case of Eric Garner’s death this past July.
De Blasio seemingly threw the NYPD under the bus when he made remarks following the controversial Grand Jury decision this past Wednesday. Ever since then, thousands have taken to the streets to protest the ruling, disrupting traffic in the busy city.
The current Mayor said Eric Garner’s death has touched him at a personal level, since he has a son who is part black, and he and his wife have constantly warned him that police are there to protect him “but there’s a history we have to overcome,” apparently suggesting that some cops target black people.
“This is now a national moment of grief, a national moment of pain and searching for a solution,” de Blasio said.
Speaking to Bill O’Reilly on Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor Thursday night, Giuliani recalled what he and his successor, Michael Bloomberg have done to protect black citizens in New York.
“For the last 20 years, between (Michael) Bloomberg and me, we have saved more black lives than any mayor in the history of the city.”
Rudy Giuliani also took issue with the insertion of race in the Eric Garner case and he believes the same outcome would have taken place if the man would have been white. Garner died after a confrontation with NYPD officers for selling unauthorized cigarettes in the city’s streets. An amateur video captured the dramatic moment in which officer Daniel Pantaleo placed Garner in a chokehold — which is not allowed by the Department — while the man repeatedly yelled, “I can’t breathe.”
Giuliani said there were 2,200 murders a year in New York when he became Mayor in 1994, and he brought the number down to 340. Giuliani added that at the time, 75 percent of murder victims were black and most lives saved during his tenure were African-American.
“We were concentrating on the real problem: the 96 percent of blacks killing other blacks,” the former Mayor said and questioned de Blasio’s remarks that police targets black men. However, Giuliani admitted that there is a problem with misconduct in the police force.
“If you’re a father…and you’re trying to keep your son safe, the thing to keep him safe from is black violence — not police officers,” Giuliani added.
Do you agree with Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s comments that he and Michael Bloomberg saved countless black lives?
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