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Ever since becoming the Mayor of New York City in 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio has come under fire for a bevy of things from not holding police accountable for the murder of Eric Garner to alienating the NYPD for campaigning against stop-and-frisk citing it was a racially driven practice (he was right). But he did make it legal to walk around with a good amount of weed without reprimand so he’s good with us.
Today the current Mayor of the Big Apple stopped by The Breakfast Club with his significant other, Mrs. Chirlan McCray, and the two spoke about meeting each other, being frustrated with the Eric Garner situation, and why fully legalizing marijuana hasn’t happened yet.
Here are the 10 things we learned from Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife Chirlan (say it right!) on The Breakfast Club.
1. First Time For Everything
Believe it or not, Bill de Blasio’s wife is the first Black woman he ever dated. When he met her and wanted to court her he asked New York’s first Black Mayor, David Dinkins, and other Black colleagues about how to approach her. We wonder what their advice was for the young white man.
2. Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner
While his wife’s family was welcoming and cool with Chirlane dating a white guy, de Blasio admits that his mother took a long time to adjust to the situation even though she was a “liberal person.” It wasn’t until they had a daughter that his mother opened up to Mrs. De Blasio.
3. Police Reform… Kinda
The Mayor feels that police officers need to communicate more with the people of the community they serve and vice versa to help build a better relationship and trust between the people and law enforcement.
4. Eric Garner
Speaking on not holding the officers who killed Eric Garner responsible, de Blasio says the Department of Justice has the first rights and they can’t act until they do. He calls it “frustrating” and says he doesn’t understand how anyone can’t decide what to do for four years.
5. Mental Health
According to Mrs. McCray, one in four students are struggling with mental health issues, including her daughter. Anyone struggling with mental health issues in the New York area are more than welcome to call 1-888-nycwell for help.
6. Legalizing Marijuana
As far as fully legalizing marijuana, Bill says he “isn’t there yet,” but Mrs. McCray feels that it should be legalized simply because she doesn’t believe people should be jailed for using it but does say it should be “highly regulated” just to keep kids safe. So before they go full throttle with legalization they want to cover all their bases. So close, yet, so far…
7. Trump & Trumpians
Though admitting to having huge issues with Donald Trump’s presidency, de Blasio says he doesn’t hold anything against Trump voters who felt they were voting for someone who would help their way of lives. Little did they know he’d make it a lot worse.
8. Bribe Scandal
Responding to Charlamagne asking him about Harendra Singh saying he bribed de Blasio with campaign contributions in the past in exchange for favors, Bill calls the accusations “bullsh*t” and is says “this too shall pass.”
9. Nasty Woman Power
When Mrs. McCray went to San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mayor Cruz of gave her a “Nasty Women Make History” button that she proudly rocks on her garment.
10. NYC Murder Rate
The Mayor says that the last time New York had so few murders in the city the Dodgers were still balling in Brooklyn. Even revered (and some would say, racist) Mayor Rudy Guilani can’t boast that kind of accomplishment.