In pretaped remarks in an online service at Brown Memorial Baptist Church on Sunday, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would establish a commission for “Racial Justice and Reconciliation” similar to South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
“We are naming a city commission, a Racial Justice and Reconciliation — just like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa,” de Blasio said. “That got to the whole impact that apartheid had on that society, and then talked about everything and acted on everything that needed to be different. Well, that’s what we are going to do here in New York City.”
He and NYC first lady Chirlane McCray announced the creation of the Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission last week. De Blasio said it would focus on “the history of racism in this city” and “get at some larger truths about how people can actually get what they deserve like… affordable housing.”
New York City doesn’t need a racial justice commission. It needs a mayor who isn’t a Democrat.