Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears On 94.7 The Block’s “Jonesy In The Morning”

July 10, 2024

Tarsha Jones: Good morning. Ladies and gentlemen, Mayor Eric Adams. How are you? 

Mayor Eric Adams: Good, good to speak with you. 

Jones: Good to speak with you as well. You keeping cool?

Mayor Adams: Got to. It is, baby, it's hot outside.

Jones: I heard you say, I heard somebody ask you if you were going to go swimming and you said no because you don't want, people ain't ready to see you in your speedo. I said, come on meatpacking district, come on meatpacking mayor, come on with it.

Mayor Adams:: That's why we at the gym every day. 

Jones: Oh, the double down. He ain't scared of y'all people. Good, good. We'll be sure to prepare ourselves. All right, so listen, congratulations first of all, on the hiring halls. 

My coworker, Pat Robinson helps run the hiring halls in Queens and she wanted me to ask you, has it been a successful outcome and how do we measure the success? Because she said, there's always like thousands of people standing outside these hiring halls and they have agencies that interview people for jobs on the spot right there.

Mayor Adams:  No, it has been a real win. Really DC 37 Henry Garrido. This was a brainchild on the campaign trail that he told me about and we produced it. What it did, it took the jobs to the people. A lot of times we talk about Black unemployment being high and people of color having high unemployment and it’s because everything is so far removed and people are intimidated sometimes when walking into governmental buildings and finding out how to get jobs. 

When I became mayor, Black unemployment was four times the rate as white. Now we cut it in half and for the first time it's less than 8 percent and so we've been hiring people on the spot and we got other private companies that are joining us, going right into the neighborhood, in NYCHA developments and other areas and bringing the jobs to people and it has been a real win. 

Jones: That's a wonderful thing. You're right about people being intimidated. Sometimes it's just as simple as they haven't interviewed in a while. things are changing. A lot of older people may not be as computer savvy so that's also intimidating.

Mayor Adams: You're right, you're right. You say somebody hasn't been interviewed in a while. Some people have not been interviewed at all. We tend to take for granted what we know. For those who are not aware of this whole term resume, how do you dress to go into an interview? How do you sit down and sell yourself by your talent and your skills? 

People have to really be taught that. If you were never taught that, then it's a very intimidating process. Some folks say, you know what, I'm not even going to try because I don't want to embarrass myself or be disrespected. I want to show people it is all right not to know. We're here to show you how to navigate the process to be employed. 

Jones: Right, and the bottom line is getting the employment. Let us tell you, let them tell you you're not dressed properly but they probably will help you and not judge you and not not give you the job based on that because they understand.

Mayor Adams: That's right. That's what these hiring halls are about. It's a friendly environment. When you can walk into your community center right in your neighborhood. When you can walk inside the school building right in your neighborhood or building. You feel more comfortable. Then you have people who are saying, welcome, thank you for coming. It's just a different atmosphere when it's done right in your neighborhood.

Jones: Yes, absolutely. Applaud you for that. Mayor Eric Adams is on the phone with us. We come back, got to talk about this crime. I don't know if we need to get the police commissioner on the three-way but we got to, this is outrageous what we've been witnessing. We'll talk about that when we return. It's 94.7 The Block. New York's number one for throwbacks.

[Music break.]

Jones: We're back with Mayor Eric Adams. I watched a video, I'm not sure if it was Harlem, they had detained a young Black man that looked like he could have been my son's age, and the cops were just pummeling him. Cops pulled up on mopeds, jumped off the moped, joined in on the punching in his head, and was already detained in handcuffs? 

Mayor Adams: That's the balance, and I'm so glad you raised that because I saw that video and the police commissioner immediately placed those officers on a modified assignment. They're going to do a thorough investigation and find out what happened. Everyone must be held accountable because when you have the power and authority to take away someone's freedom, there's a lot of obligation and oversight that should come with that, and I have a lot of faith in Commissioner Caban because he came up through the ranks, and his dad was a strong advocate for diversity in the Police Department. 

We're going to look into this, and it's going to be investigated appropriately, and if those officers are found to have done something improper, they're going to be held accountable. We do not play the game. We're going to support our police, but our police must support the people that they are policing.

Jones: They know people got cameras out, why do they feel, what do you think, having come from that side of things why do you think they feel so comfortable so empowered to do it blatantly on film?

Mayor Adams: That's a great question, and I think it's a combination of things, adrenaline is real, people are caught up in the adrenaline and that's what we’re constantly trying to train people that you've got to take a step back. You get caught up in the emotion of policing and you start just reacting and not thinking and you make those errors and mistakes. 

So in this case, we're going to look at exactly what happened and make sure, number one, that if anything was done wrong, that people are held accountable, and number two, you use it as training, to let people know. 

That's the duality of my role. As I make sure police are acting proper, I got to deal with the overproliferation of guns. When you move 17,000 illegal guns off the streets, you still have that young brother and his friend was sitting in McDonald's. Somebody came in there after just a simple dispute and shot the brother six times. We have to make sure police are acting properly and hold them accountable, but I also got to make a real hard stance on removing these illegal guns up our streets that's creating havoc in our community.

Jones: Because that was outrageous too, just in McDonald's, in McDonald's, and is that the same incident? That they were, the two kids were in McDonald's and they said that was gang related?

Mayor Adams: Yes, it appears from our preliminary investigation, there was a dispute between a young lady and a young man. Who doesn't have disputes? Everybody has disputes, but it should not turn into a gang fight. This young man was shot six times. It's just something that we're seeing over and over again. Simple arguments. People are taking out guns and shooting each other. Many times innocent bystanders are struck and killed.

Jones: Right. I hate using the mental health, but there is a lot of depression. There's a lot of insecurity, lack of accountability in the households because parents be working two and three jobs. Maybe there's not that sit down, look me in my eye and have a conversation about my day and really get to the bottom of if I'm troubled or not. 

There is something, there's a break and I'm noticing it in Black males specifically, between 17 and 23. They're lost, they're triggered, they're a little entitled, they're afraid, and they have lost their way.

Mayor Adams: You know what, that's that honest family conversation we need to have. We don't need to have it out on Broadway, but we do need to go into our own settings, our own organizations and have that real conversation because it's real, and what we're seeing. 

That's why we did the Teenspace, it’s using a telemedicine method of having young people talk to mental health professionals. We're blown away by how many young African American and Hispanics are using it, and they are really getting that mental health work. As you say, in our community, we've always been sort of ashamed to use that mental health word. We got to stop doing that. We got to sit down and be honest that Hey, my kid needs help.

Jones: A fresh perspective, let's not even refer to it as help, because that sounds weakening. A fresh perspective, a third party, a third neutral party, because auntie and uncle's going to be on mommy's side or daddy's side. If we get a fresh perspective, that's the help, 

Mayor Adams: Well said, well said. 

Jones: Thank you. Just a random question. Why is nobody asking Donald Trump what he meant about immigrants are taking Black jobs? Is being mayor of New York City considered a Black job? Sike, sorry, don't answer that. Wayne wanted to ask you a question about your sit down with President Biden.

Wayne Mayo: Yeah, can you share any details? How did that go?

Mayor Adams: He shared his view for the future and his success. He wanted to speak with all the mayors across the country. He acknowledges, he acknowledged that, a mayor’s a very difficult job, it's one of the toughest political jobs, if not the toughest political job across America. 

It was his desire just to give us a view and be very clear that he's running, he's straight ahead in his run. We stated that we have a president, and right now he's the president in office, and he's the one that's running, and so we're going to do our job. I'm a field soldier. I carry out my orders. Once I'm on your team, I'm on your team.

Jones: That's loyalty because I wanted to say, let him know that despite his high mass incarceration stance from years ago and his position on desegregating schools and busing and all that stuff, despite all of that, I will still vote for him on my way to taking him to hospice care. I mean it's just a matter of time, come on.

Mayo: I think we have to go now. 

Jones: Thank you, thank you Mayor Adams.

Mayor Adams: All right, stay cool, enjoy the summer.

Jones: You do the same, appreciate you.