"I was an aggressive cop," Bernard Kerik, believes NYPD tensions are caused solely by the rhetoric of leaders like Mayor DeBlasio and Al Sharpton.
January 4, 2015

Dana Bash, the (temporary?) replacement for Candy Crowley on CNN's State Of The Union addressed the issue of the NYPD's tumultuous relations with N.Y.C. Mayor, Bill DeBlasio. At the funeral of slain officer Wenjian Liu, NYPD once again showed their petulance and turned their backs on the mayor because DeBlasio advised his son to treat police interactions with care, because they are there to protect you. This was misconstrued by the felon, Bernard Kerik and Police Union President, Patrick Lynch, who both blame the mayor for the actions of a lone and unstable assassin.

Kerik doesn't think the Ferguson or Staten Island homicides warrant such outrage. Never mind the fact that neither victim had committed a felony warranting capital punishment at the hands of the (white) police officers, Kerik says neither incident was stoked in racial animus. The ex-police commissioner penned a piece in Time Magazine which said,

"If you listen to some in the media, purported civil rights leader Al Sharpton, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and others around the country, over the last several weeks, you're forced to believe that nearly all of America's local and state police are out to kill minorities."

(Bash speaking) You went on to say:

"It's a lie that has the potential to rip America at its seams and cause damage far worse than any attack on our country, including that on 9/11/2001."

(Bash)

You were New York City police commissioner in 2001. You saw what it really meant to have an attack on the homeland. Isn't this a little much?

Kerik thinks his statement was not hyperbolic.

I don't think so, because you have 700,000 police officers in this country, maybe a little more. Plus, you have the federal law enforcement community.

For that entire community to be labeled racist, for people to say that they are targeting minorities, they're harassing minorities, and all based around two incidents, two, that had absolutely not one shred of evidence that those two events were based on race, I think it's bizarre, and I think it hurts the society in general. I think it hurts the country. (emphasis mine)

And I think it has to stop, and, hopefully, I think what we're seeing now, what we have seen the last couple days between the NYPD and the mayor, hopefully, it's coming to an end.

New York's 14th district Representative Joseph Crowley (D), whose dad and grandfather were both NYPD officers, says we must be careful because the history of racism in this country is not something we can ignore.

"But I think it also (let's us) have the opportunity to have a conversation. I saw "Selma" last night, the movie that came out, very powerful, only 50 years ago, where we saw tremendous abuse.

I agree that doesn't exist on the same scale today. But I do think that we have to have that conversation because of a perception within some communities that there's not equally distributed justice in our country."

Kerik, a creature created in Rudy Giuliani's underground laboratory, wasn't having it. He credits himself and Mayor "Noun-Verb-911" with lowering crime in the African American Community. He spoke nothing of the obvious racial profiling that went hand and hand with Stop and Frisk. He mentions his own history as a police officer and denies there's any reason for black people to feel differently than their white counterparts.

"I was a cop. I was a very aggressive cop. I know thousands of cops that weren't racist. Is there racism in this country? Yes. But to label the entire police department and every cop, local, state and federal in this country as a racist is bizarre."

Miraculously, Kerik did say he did not condone the police turning their backs on the mayor, in either funeral. We know, most assuredly, if he was still in that position (save for a few pesky felonies) he wouldn't be that lone officer who acted with deference for the NYC Mayor.

After all, DeBlasio was elected by the same people Bernie Kerik was supposed to protect and serve, not treat with derision and suspicion. Not surprisingly, Democratic Representative Crowley and Fox News' favored son, Kerik are at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to dealing with sensitive matters of race.

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