A candidate for New York’s 65th District incited boos from the audience at a recent forum in New York City when she declared her belief that “all lives matter.”
Six candidates for the 65th District participating in a forum at the Abrons Arts Center Playhouse were asked Tuesday night to articulate their thoughts about improving police relations with minority communities, and all but one stated their support of the Black Lives Matter movement, DNAinfo reports.
But incumbent Alice Cancel, who won a special election to replace disgraced Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver this spring, provided a different answer that didn’t sit well with many in attendance.
“All lives matter,” Cancel said. “All lives matter.”
According to the news site:
Much of the crowd at the Henry Street Settlement’s Abrons Arts Center Playhouse erupted in boos, while some applause and cheers could also be heard.
Once the furor died down, Cancel shared her perspective on tackling fraught relations between officers and citizens, which she attributed to a growing lack of familiarity between the two — the answer, she argued, is closing the gap.
“I am going to be very honest with you – I have been living in this community for 40 years, and I used to know that cop on the beat,” Cancel said. “That cop on the beat knew everybody in my community, whether it was public housing, whether it was private housing – that was the cop that we knew.
“I want to make sure that the cops that are in our community should know our community and live our community,” she continued. “Because this is why all of these things are going on, because that cop on the beat no longer knows you, doesn’t even know who you are, doesn’t know who your family is.”
The question about police brutality, posed by a lifelong Lower East Side resident, solicited different responses from the other candidates, four of which declared their solidarity with Black Lives Matter, and a fifth that did the same without mentioning the group, DNA info reports.
All of the candidates talked about community focused police work, as well as increasing transparency and accountability of law enforcement officers. Two candidates stressed the importance of the attorney general overseeing cases of officer involved shootings or police misconduct, while another pointed to the need for The Right to Know Act, which consists of two bills currently before the city council that would require police to explain why they detain or question a citizen.
Cancel was called by Cuomo to serve out the remainder of former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who was sentenced in May to 12 years in federal prison for corruption in a pay-to-play scheme.
“The conviction of Mr. Silver, 72, served as a capstone to a campaign against public corruption by Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, which has led to more than a dozen state lawmakers’ being convicted or pleading guilty,” the New York Times reported this spring.
Interestingly, candidates at the recent forum were asked whether they support the re-election of uber “progressive” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and Cancel was the only candidate to answer “yes,” DNA info reports.
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