Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife Chirlane McCray stopped by The Breakfast Club to discuss community policing, mental health and much more. They started off the interview by opening about their relationship, how they met, and how their families reacted to the biracial couple. They both admitted that neither of them had dated a white man and black woman before starting their relationship and that their were some challenges in the beginning. de Blasio admitted that his mother struggled with the relationship at first, initially buying into the stereotype that it would be a challenge for them to be together. When their first child, Chiara, was born, though, that all fell away.
Mayor de Blasio and McCray then went on to speak about law enforcement policies in New York City. Charlamagne brought up the death Eric Garner, wondering how the city can close the divide between police officers and citizens after tragic events like Garner's death. The mayor has a plan to bring them together as a community. He wants the NYPD to get to know the people in the communities they serve, encouraging them to get on a first name basis with residents, as well as give them their email address and cell phone numbers. He believes that the more they get to know each other the more comfortable everybody will be with one another.
He also addressed the issues of teenagers not feeling comfortable with the public safety officers in their school. He admits that there is work to be done if kids are afraid of those officers because they're supposed to be there to protect them. de Blasio and McCray both want to see more access to mental health resources for teens in their schools, as well.
Finally they touched on whether or not weed will ever become legal in New York City, suggesting that it's not out of the question. McCray is not against it, but believes it should be highly regulated. She's wary of corruption in the weed industry developing as it did in the prescription pain killer industry.