NEW YORK, NY – The leader of the Greater New York chapter of Black Lives Matter has issued a threat to New York City’s Mayor-elect Eric Adams that there will be “riots,” “bloodshed,” and “fire” if the former NYPD police captain gets tough on crime in the city in a manner similar to the days prior to the outgoing De Blasio Administration.
Adams had met with BLM leader Hawk Newsome on Wednesday for a closed-door discussion at Brooklyn’s Borough Hall, but the conference quickly devolved into a tense and loud argument between the two men, reports say.
One serious bone of contention between the two was the possibility that Adams – who has stated that he is “proud” of his time in the NYPD and would reject calls to “defund the police” – would reinstate the anti-crime unit, which Newsome claimed was essentially the Nazi Gestapo.
“If he thinks that they’re going to go back to the old ways of policing, then we are going to take to the streets again. There will be riots, there will be fire and there will be bloodshed because we believe in defending our people,” Newsome said to the Daily News, adding that BLM “prays for peace” but prepares “for the worst.”
In addition, Chivona Newsome – Hawk’s sister, and a BLM co-founder – stated that if Adams attempted to get tougher on crime, that, “We will shut down City Hall, and we will give him hell and make it a nightmare.”
Adams, who is Black, has previously spoken on his own experiences with police brutality as a youth, recounting how he was taken into custody at the age of 15 for trespassing and was beaten by the arresting officer.
However, when running for NYC mayor on the Democratic ticket – claiming to be a progressive, he is actually viewed by many as a moderate – Adams stated that he would not embrace calls to defund or abolish police, and that he was proud of his time in the NYPD.
Throughout the contentious meeting, Adams help is ground saying he will not change who he is and what he has done over the years fighting crime and injustices.
“The same things I’ve been doing over the past 35 years I’m going to continue to do, and maybe you should look at those things I have done.”
Incoming Mayor Eric Adams
New York City is currently in the midst of a surging crime wave; according to reports, crime overall is up 22 percent from the same period of time last year, with many blaming the city’s current “soft on crime” approach – including cashless bail – for the situation.
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