NYC Leaders Weigh In On Black Lives Matter Debate
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A sharp debate on police-race relations is consuming both present and former New York City leaders.
The big question is whether the Black Lives Matter movement contributes to anger against police officers.
Ever since Mayor Bill de Blasio picked Bill Bratton to be his police commissioner, the two men have taken pains to seem like they're on the same page, CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported.
But the Dallas police shootings and the protests by the Black Lives Matter movement over the recent shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota have highlighted a seemingly sharp difference.
"I have a respect for the Black Lives Matter movement, and I think that movement, just the very phrase 'Black Lives Matter,' has changed the national discussion," de Blasio said. "They've changed the national discussion for the better."
"Black Lives Matter is a force for good. It's about peaceful protest. It's about shining a light on the problems that we have," New York City first lady Chirlane McCray said. "This is such a force for good to have so many engaged and being civically minded and participating."
"And we can't move forward without it," de Blasio added.
The mayor and his wife were responding to an assessment from Bratton.
"The reality of the Black Lives Matter movement is primarily focused on police and their efforts to portray police and the police profession in a very negative way, which is unfortunate," Bratton said Sunday on "Meet the Press."
At a joint news conference at police headquarters Monday, Bratton said his difference of opinion with de Blasio is the function of different job responsibilities.
"I have an obligation, I believe, to speak on behalf of the men and women I represent," Bratton said.
In a nod to Bratton, the mayor admitted there were a small number of disruptive provocateurs in the movement, but "in terms of the work we're doing, the commissioner and I are in as much unity as I've ever seen two people be," de Blasio said.
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani attacked Black Lives Matter as racist and anti-American on CBS' "Face the Nation."
"When you say black lives matter, that's inherently racist," Giuliani said. "If you want to deal with this on the black side, you've got to teach your children to be respectful to the police, and you've got to teach your children that the real danger to them is not the police. The real danger to them -- 99 out of 100 times ... are other black kids who are going to kill them."
Giuliani's comments infuriated de Blasio.
"I don't know why he has chosen for decades to divide people, but sadly that's what his body of work increasingly is," de Blasio said.
De Blasio said that what white Americans have to understand is that young men of color feel fear all the time, and that in order to come together as a nation and to heal we have to overcome that.
Both de Blasio and Bratton say the important thing now is for everyone to continue the dialogue.