‘Pure Racism’: Mayor Bill De Blasio Rips Trump For Denouncing NYC’s Black Lives Matter Mural in Front of Trump Tower
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ripped President Donald Trump for denouncing the city’s Black Lives Matter mural outside of Trump Tower in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Thursday night.
Trump first criticized the proposed mural last week, even though the slogan wasn’t officially painted on the street until Thursday morning. On July 1, he said it “will further antagonize New York’s Finest” and called the painted slogan a “symbol of hate.”
NYC is cutting Police $’s by ONE BILLION DOLLARS, and yet the @NYCMayor is going to paint a big, expensive, yellow Black Lives Matter sign on Fifth Avenue, denigrating this luxury Avenue. This will further antagonize New York’s Finest, who LOVE New York & vividly remember the….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2020
….horrible BLM chant, “Pigs In A Blanket, Fry ‘Em Like Bacon”. Maybe our GREAT Police, who have been neutralized and scorned by a mayor who hates & disrespects them, won’t let this symbol of hate be affixed to New York’s greatest street. Spend this money fighting crime instead!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2020
On the day of its creation, de Blasio, who participated in the painting, said people are “outraged” by Trump’s criticism, which he called “pure racism.”
“Here was an opportunity for the President of the United States to show respect for the fact that this is what we value here,” de Blasio said. “What did he do? He literally tweeted that writing Black Lives Matter would denigrate the luxury of that avenue. That is pure racism. That is acting like an acknowledgement of the value of Black people is somehow belittling, when, in fact, what we’re trying to do is lift up people who have built the city and built America and haven’t been given their respect.”
“The President, rather than having a chance to acknowledge America’s original sin, he literally made it worse by suggesting that honoring black people on Fifth Avenue would somehow make it less valuable or luxurious,” de Blasio continued. “I’ve got to tell you, people are outraged by that.”
Watch above, via CNN.
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