[ad_1]
Hillary Clinton gushed over Mayor Eric Adams’ public safety vision, saying his disregard of left-wing social media critics on policing was “music to [her] ears.”
During an episode of Clinton’s “You and Me Both” podcast released Tuesday, the former first lady, US senator and secretary of state said retired NYPD captain Adams, who appeared on the show with her, is well-suited to address current public safety issues and thanked the mayor for choosing the Big Apple’s first woman NYPD commissioner.
“You now are bringing that inside-outside perspective to dealing with public safety in a way that does promote justice and safety,” said Clinton, who lives with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, in Chappaqua.
“Key to increasing public safety and ensuring justice is building trust between communities of color and police officers, while at the same time supporting our police department. You’re in a unique position to be able to walk that balance beam, Mayor,” she said.
“And I want to congratulate you on appointing the very first female commissioner in the very long history,” Clinton added, referring to Keechant Sewell, announced in December as the city’s first woman top cop.
Adams, who in January released his plan to combat recently surging gun violence, vowed to not pay heed to the “loudest” distractors when it comes to his approach to public safety.
“I am not going to allow the numerical minority that are the loudest to dictate how we’re going to keep my city safe now and what we’re going to do in the long term,” Adams said.
“It’s not what happens in tweets; it’s what happens on our streets,” he quipped, repeating a sentiment expressed in a previously delivered similar one-liner.
The former Democratic presidential nominee responded with enthusiastic approval.
“Amen! Oh, preach! Preach, Mayor,” she gushed. “That is music to my ears!”
“To go just in one or the other direction is just short-sighted and it just doesn’t work,” added the former first lady. “So thank you for helping to educate, not only the city, but literally the country about how you can’t separate safety and justice; they have to go hand in hand.”
During the 30-minute podcast appearance, Adams also spoke about his experience as a struggling student with an undiagnosed learning disability growing up in poverty in southeast Queens and his abuse at the hands of cops inside an NYPD precinct when he was 15.
“I went from being a D student to being on the dean’s list when I got help,” he said, referencing an oft-repeated story of carrying a garbage bag of clothes to school because he lived in fear of being evicted from their home.
“When I think about Mom, her third-grade education, she was filled with so much wisdom and I remember the day after I was arrested and I went home and she said, ‘Baby, you’re going to find yourself in dark places. You decide if that dark place is a burial or a planting, and any pain that you receive, you have to turn it into a purpose.’”
[ad_2]