Meet the Radical Anti-Police Protester Set to Be New York Mayor After Eric Adams Arrest
Germania Rodriguez Poleo, Daily Mail, September 26, 2024
New Yorker could be run by an ultra progressive Black Lives Matter activist if Eric Adams is ousted following his federal indictment.
Under New York’s law, the city’s Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, 48, who has a history of protesting against the police, will step into the mayor’s office.
Williams has similar political views to far-left Democrat progressives such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
He would replace Adams temporarily, until there is a special election 80 days after the change of power, sparking fears among New Yorkers that things could go from bad to worse in the city.
‘A wounded Eric Adams, a weakened Eric Adams remaining in office, is better than the socialist Jumaane Williams,’ former mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa told DailyMail.com.
‘That will open up the floodgates to socialism, and we will become Chicago.’
Adams, a moderate Democrat and former cop, has been the target of progressives like AOC, who oppose his pro-NYPD views and statements denouncing the Biden administration’s migrant policies.
Rep Ocasio-Cortez, who has repeatedly endorsed Williams, has been the leading Democrat voice against Adams, demanding his resignation in an essay for The New York Times published just hours before the mayor was indicted.
‘I do not see how Mayor Adams can continue governing New York City,’ AOC wrote Wednesday on X on Wednesday.
‘The flood of resignations and vacancies are threatening gov function. Nonstop investigations will make it impossible to recruit and retain a qualified administration.
‘For the good of the city, he should resign.’
Social media users have already started expressing fear about what a mayor Williams would mean for NYC.
‘Jumaane D. Williams makes AOC look like Joe Manchin. Big defund the police/bail reform guy,’ Joe Colangelo said on X.
‘To say this would be the final nail in the coffin for NYC is an understatement. JW is basically a villain from Batman,’ another X user added.
Lisa Cappiello simply wrote: ‘Lord help us.’
During 15 years in public service, Williams has stoked anti-police sentiment and pushed for criminal reform, including to end solitary confinement in city prisons. He is also a prominent pro-Palestine activist.
The failed gubernatorial candidate is a firm proponent of slashing the NYPD’s budget but lives in a US military base in Brooklyn that offers 24-hour security.
Williams was a leader of the 2020 BLM protests in NYC. In June 2020, during the George Floyd protests, he led marches to Brooklyn Borough Hall to demand NYPD budget cuts.
He also threatened to refuse to sign a warrant authorizing the collection of real estate taxes, which underpin the city’s budget.
Williams said he would not sign that warrant unless the city eliminated the next class of police officers.
‘This guy hates the cops, hates America. Wears a Keffiyeh,’ Sliwa told DailyMail.com. ‘The police will no longer be able to function….
Sliwa added that even in a temporary position, Williams’ mayorship could have lasting effects for NYC and it will spark an exodus from the city.
‘[City Council] will pass so much legislation that he will sign and will never be able to be rescinded,’ Sliwa added. ‘New York City will become the socialist capital of the world.’
Responding to AOC’s tweet demanding Adam’s resignation, X user Ralph Napolitano wrote: ‘She wants to step in and be mayor. He’s an extreme progressive socialists who hates the cops. NYC will be worse than it is now. We can’t let happen.’
Williams, his wife and children live on the Fort Hamilton base in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn.
The family, who have lived there for two years, rent a corner townhouse on the base with a backyard and water views of the Verrazano Narrows for about $4,000 a month.
To enter the base, vehicles and passengers are subject to identity checks and surveillance.
The base remains one of the most protected corners of Brooklyn.
Adams was indicted by a federal grand jury on federal criminal charges – an extraordinary culmination to weeks of searches, subpoenas and resignations of top officials that have thrust the city’s government into crisis.
The indictment detailing the charges against Adams was expected to be unsealed Thursday.
In a speech recorded at his official residence, Adams said he would remain in office, describing any charges he may face as “entirely false, based on lies.”
‘I always knew that if I stood my ground for all of you, that I would be a target — and a target I became,’ Adams said. ‘I will fight these injustices with every ounce of my strength and my spirit.’
Federal investigators had seized Adams’ electronic devices nearly a year ago as part of an investigation focused, at least partly, on campaign contributions and Adams’ interactions with the Turkish government. Because the charges were sealed, it was unknown whether they dealt with those same matters.
It marks a stunning turn for Adams, a former police captain who won election nearly three years ago to become the city’s second Black mayor on a campaign that stressed his working class roots and commitment to public safety. But as Adams has made reducing crime a cornerstone of his administration, he has faced growing legal peril, with multiple federal investigations honing in on his top aides and his own campaign.
In the last two weeks alone, the leaders he appointed to oversee the country’s largest police force and largest schools system have announced their resignations.