Rev. Al Sharpton Worried Black Political Leaders Missing Opportunity to Tackle Crime in NY

Rev. Al Sharpton is organizing a group of Black leaders from New York to discuss tackling crime after Democrats in the state lost three House seats in the Midterm Elections.

Politico reported that Sharpton is worried Black political leaders are missing a prime opportunity to collaborate on one of the state’s biggest issues.

“They haven’t been in the room together to talk about crime,” Sharpton said about the meeting, scheduled for January, according to Politico.

“Why are we not talking collectively?”

New York sports a bevy of Black political leaders, including State Attorney General Letitia James, Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown.

“We have more Blacks in power than Adam Clayton Powell could have ever dreamed about,” Sharpton added, referencing the first Black New Yorker elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

“There has to be some way we can all sit down and say, ‘We may not agree on these 10 things but we can agree on these three things.’”

Since he stepped into office, Adams has tried to reverse the city’s bail reform laws that were enacted in 2019. However, the city’s progressive Democrats have blamed Adams, a former New York Police Department (NYPD) officer, for the House losses, due to his constant focus on crime despite the fact that the city is the safest among the six largest cities in the U.S.

Amid that fight, New York Republicans in the deep blue state attacked New York Democrats on crime. Adams thanked Sharpton for bringing Black politicians together for the summit.

“Public safety and justice are the prerequisites to prosperity, and with 90 percent of the people [in] New York State believing crime is a serious problem, this is a critical issue to get right and tackle right now,” Adams said in a statement, according to Politico.

“I thank Reverend Sharpton for bringing this group together for this important discussion about making New Yorkers safer,” said Adams.

Sharpton shared that he hoped the summit would lead to a consensus in 2023 on public safety, instead of the infighting that took place this year.

“You need a neutral force to say, ‘Let’s all sit down.’ We may say, ‘Fine we don’t agree on bail reform, but what do we say about stop and frisk’ or whatever it is. There have got to be areas of agreement,” Sharpton said Tuesday.