A plane was spotted flying over NYC with a trailing message banner saying “De Blasio, Our Backs Have Turned to You.” Hundreds of NYPD officers turned their backs on Mayor de Blasio when he attended the funeral of Officer Rafael Ramos earlier today.
Day before yesterday I encountered a fellow going on and on about how Mayor de Blasio had incited the murders, and I asked him to show me the actual words de Blasio had used to incite murder. And of course he couldn’t; all I got back was a lot of attitude and bluster.
Per Gawker, according to a statement issued anonymously through the owner of the plane —
“It is our opinion that Mayor de Blasio’s dangerous and irresponsible comments about his and his wife’s concern for their son’s safety at the hands of the NYPD fueled the flames that led to civil unrest, and potentially to the deaths of PO Wenjian Liu and PO Rafael Ramos, as well as the continued threats against NYPD personnel. The Mayor shows us no respect, and encourages the public to follow his lead.”
I believe this is the statement by Mayor de Blasio that the officers found objectionable:
This is profoundly personal for me. I was at the White House the other day, and the president of the United States turned to me, and he met Dante a few months ago, and he said that Dante reminded him of what he looked like as a teenager. And he said, I know you see this crisis through a very personal lens. I said to him I did. Because Chirlane and I have had to talk to Dante for years, about the dangers he may face. A good young man, a law-abiding young man, who would never think to do anything wrong, and yet, because of a history that still hangs over us, the dangers he may face—we’ve had to literally train him, as families have all over this city for decades, in how to take special care in any encounter he has with the police officers who are there to protect him.
That’s it? That’s the “inflammatory speech” that went over the line? News flash — even black cops in the NYPD fear the white cops in the NYPD. As BooMan says, “You have to be submental not to understand that a police force that has made it its business to stop and frisk black people just because they are black is going to alarm the parents of a young black man. And that doesn’t even get into the history of using violence against black men and asking questions later.”
The police union started badmouthing Mayor de Blasio back when the city stopped supporting “stop and frisk,” which a federal judge had ruled unconstitutional and arguably wasn’t reducing crime anyway. Stopping “stop and frisk” was one of the issues de Blasio ran on when he campaigned to be elected mayor, so arguably the people of New York supported stopping it (whether there is polling on this I do not know).
A few days ago Charles Pierce wrote about insubordination in the NYPD and CIA.
For the past two weeks, on two different fronts, we have been confronted with the unpleasant fact that there are people working in the institutions of our self-government who believe themselves not only beyond the control and sanctions of the civil power, but also beyond the control and sanctions of their direct superiors. We also have been confronted with the fact that there are too many people in our political elite who are encouraging this behavior for their own purposes, most of which are cheap and dangerous. In Washington, John Brennan, the head of the CIA, came right up to the edge of insubordination against the president who hired him in the wake of the Senate report on American torture. Meanwhile, in New York, in the aftermath of weeks of protests against the strangulation of Eric Garner by members of the New York Police Department, two patrolmen, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, were murdered in their squad car by a career criminal and apparent maniac named Ismaaiyl Brinsley. In response, and at the encouragement of television hucksters like Joe Scarborough, police union blowhards like Patrick Lynch, political zombies like George Pataki, and comical fascists like Rudolph Giuliani, the NYPD is acting in open rebellion against Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York, and the civil power he represents over them. This is an incredibly perilous time for democracy at the most basic levels.
The NYPD need to remember who they work for, and it’s not the police union.
“The NYPD need to remember who they work for”
You got that right. We have for past decade or so put police and the military on a pedestal. Some of it was good intentions following 9-11 but I’ve always thought it is a dangerous thing. The police are not heroes they are public servants, they get paid to do what they do end of the story. The same for the military, we have gotten to the point were members of the military are marketed for any two-bit charity, insurance company, NASCAR race whatever. Today I saw a college football game “the military bowl†sponsored by Northrop Grumman? If that aint war profiteering I don’t know what is. The fucks on the right wing and the war pimps learned long ago that the military needs to be marketed as heroes and cannot be questioned. Its all fake patriot bullshit needed to prevent another Vietnam when pop culture turned on the war and the military. Now we do the same with the police, these assholes will hold anyone who dare call out the police responsible for anything bad that happens to them whether they got it coming or not.
So far, all the spokespersons for the NYPD have been white. They perhaps could change the dialog if they had some black spokespersons–perhaps.
I grew up in NYC.
And I’ve seen the NYPD act like jerks towards every Mayor except Rudy 9/11. He pretty much let them do whatever it was the hell they wanted. – and only the most egregious abuse while in custody – like shoving a broom handle up one suspect’s butt, or the shooting of a man reaching for his wallet 40+ times, was questioned.
The NYPD didn’t like Lindsey.
They didn’t like Beame.
They didn’t much like Koch.
They hated Dinkins – and an African-American.
A lot of times they didn’t get along with Bloomberg.
And now, they hate de Blasio.
Notice a pattern?
The NYPD had problems with every liberal-leaning, non-conservative Mayor.
And they loved that comical Fascist, Rudy 9/11 – who was not at all funny to NYC’s minorities.
Also, the NYPD is in the middle of negotiating a new contract, so all of this stuff they’re pulling is a tactic to put the Mayor in a worse position.
Mayor de Blasio gave his mixed-race son some very sound advice about being careful around police.
As a father, that’s the responsible thing to do.
And the NYPD is upset about that?
If that offends the police, then maybe they should try to kill less young black males with little or no provocation.
Also, too:
What the police all around this country need to do, isn’t turning their backs on the politicians they don’t like.
They should flip the bird to the NRA, FOX “news,” and Reich-Wing talk radio.
In a country and a time when getting a gun is easier than getting registered to vote, you almost can’t blame police officers from being nervous and twitchy when they approach a suspect.
It would be nice, though, if they were nervous and twitchy in an ‘equal opportunity” kind of way.
But the NRA, FOX “news,” and Reich-Wing talk radio, are there 24 X 7 X 365 to keep drumming racial bigotry into the heads of every person – including the police.
I see video’s and photo’s of so many armed white yahoo’s marching around in public with their long-guns and semi-automatic pistols, and all the police do, is calmly approach them and talk to them.
But let a black male not jump or move quick enough, and it’s an instant death sentence.
As I said, I grew-up in NYC, and lived there for a while as an adult, and I have always respected police officers – ok, maybe not as much when Rudy was the Fascist Mayor of the city – but I was gone by then.
But with this recent petulant whining, I’ve lost a lot of respect for them.
uncledad…Amen!
Mayhap they just need a little cheese to go with their whine.
Thanks Swami, I wasn’t sure my word turd was very well written but if you get it that good enough for me!
Swami.
Boy, talk about your back-handed compliment from uncledad! 😉
gulag.. You mean like he reached the bottom rung? 🙂
No.
That would be me! 🙂
It’s very disturbing. For the police to be so defiant of civilian authority is intolerable under any circumstances, and all the more so when they’re full of shit. Mayor de Blasio is in a tough situation. I hope he doesn’t let these stormtroopers bully him. Personally I think he should fire every one of the back turners, but that may be asking too much. But this insubordination is obviously coordinated, so there at least needs to be some accountability for the ringleaders.
“he reached the bottom rung”
No not at all, I guess my response wasn’t constructed any better than my original comment? Everyone who frequents this blog knows Swami is at the top of the heap when it comes to to insightful comments, except maybe Doug, goatherd, erinyes, joanr16, c u n d gulag, oh you know what I mean!
top of the heap?
Hey Maha, seems your blog has gone from a shining city on the hill, a beacon of intellectual enlightenment to just a heap.
“just a heap”
Just the comment section, the blog of course is a beacon of intellectual enlightenment! Maybe I should stop digging?
uncledad,
I knew very well what you meant.
I was just yankin’ your chain! 😉
“I was at the White House the other day…”
That was the part of De Blasio’s statement that sent them over the edge.