Adams says that as a young Black man, he was subjected to police brutality. He understands that some people shouldn’t be cops. He also understands that his people need good policing. Some of his strongest support comes from low-income neighborhoods bearing the brunt of crime.
When Adams calls himself the new “face of the Democratic Party,” he is not wrong. And that’s good for the Democratic Party.
Other new faces belong to new mayors Bruce Harrell in Seattle and London Breed in San Francisco. Breed backed the expulsion of ludicrously woke school board members who dragged their feet on reopening schools.
Harrell was elected by a large margin on his promise to remove Seattle’s homeless encampments. He’s doing it, sending the inhabitants to shelters and social services.
Which brings up the intersection of lawlessness and social dysfunction. A Boston University poll found that city leaders across the country were most concerned with deteriorating mental health as a consequence of the pandemic.
Story after tabloid story bears this out. The homeless man who pushed an Asian woman onto the tracks in front of a moving New York City subway train had been in and out of jails and mental hospitals. Many of the apparent hate crimes directed against Asians (and others), if you read down, are committed by mentally ill people. Same applies to a variety of weird cases, like the “art lover” who stabbed two employees at the Museum of Modern Art.
Calls for building mental health services should be heeded. The growing consensus, though, is that social workers can help police but can’t replace them.
Go ahead and treat mentally ill people, Adams said in a statement after the feces incident. But, he went on, there must be changes to the law regarding those who engage in violence. The law must “keep people who are clearly a danger to others off the street.”
Don, this one was for you.
