Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels who is running for Mayor of New York City, paid a visit to 770 Eastern Parkway on Thursday night, where he spoke to locals and recounted his memories of the Rebbe.
By Anash.org reporter
Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels who is running for Mayor of New York City, paid a visit to 770 Eastern Parkway on Thursday night, the night of Lag B’omer.
For Sliwa, the anti-crime activist who founded the Guardian Angels in 1979, the visit to Chabad Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway was hardly the first. During the Crown Heights Riots of 1991, Sliwa and his patrol group took to the streets of Crown Heights to protect the Jewish community. And in the winter of 2019, when NYC saw a rise in anti-semitic crime, he was back with his group patrolling once again.
On March 8, 2020, Sliwa announced that he would be running for mayor of New York City in 2021, seeking to become the 110th mayor of New York City. But he is running as a Republican, and the city hasn’t elected a Republican for Mayor in over 15 years.
On Thursday, Sliwa paid a campaign stop to 770 Eastern Parkway, Chabad World Headquarters. During his visit, which took place around 10:30 PM, he spoke to a small crowd of bochurim and locals who weren’t attending any Lag B’omer program.
Sliwa told over his memories of his encounters with the Rebbe, including of the time he received a dollar from the Rebbe during “Sunday dollars.” After recording what seemed to be a campaign video, he continued talking to and greeting locals who approached him.
I read an interesting article in the New York Post the other day written by Ed Mullins the President of the NYC SBA (NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association). How a ‘new normal’ of criminality will outlast COVID in NYC (nypost.com) Mullins expressed how he longs for the days of old when police officers enforced the law. The article proves that if you live long enough the political cycles go around and around. Mullins expresses our thoughts too and our wish that the voters of New York had only listened to us.
Police officers across the nation now face an uphill battle in order to return to the days of old. A year ago, Heather MacDonald of the Manhattan Institute wrote a book and then went on the national speaking tour touting, The War On Cops | Criminal Justice Book | Heather Mac Donald (manhattan-institute.org). MacDonald much like Paul Revere traveled across America warning us repeatedly. Her efforts were real, but just not enough against the forces of unrest, disorder, and violence. MacDonald’s work and book were a warning of real life and the coming crisis of lawlessness. Today, NYPD has the crime statistics for all to see here: Statistics – NYPD (nyc.gov) Be informed, look. The war continues, only now you and I are the targets. The police have been silenced and restrained in real time. Our political class has effectively tied them in knots and put them in legal jeopardy every step that they take.
On January 14th, 2015 I started the Square Deal Committee and began the support your local police rallies across the City of New York. Please view our video here: https://youtu.be/ak00rYVPME4 and I asked the same question then that I ask each of you today once again, who speaks for you? Who will safeguard our liberty and freedom? Will it be de Blasio, Cuomo, or Biden? Today the New York City police officer has handcuffs put on him and restrictions preventing him from aggressively enforcing the laws of our nation. Support Your Local Police!
In the days that followed those rallies, the radicals across America planted the seeds of chaos in every alleyway in the toughest cities across our nation. We have witnessed police officers cut down in the line of duty one after the other in almost every state and city in the nation. We observe a media hell bent on destroying law and order and fawning over those committed to unrest and sit and watch as American cities burn to the ground and they actively distort the truth we can view on the videos. Blatant lying.
What do we ask and what do we seek? We ask first and foremost that all U.S. Citizens register and vote. We ask them to understand the role and life of a police officer and to schedule a visit to Citizens Police Academy – NYPD (nyc.gov). We ask you to remember, the policeman is your friend.
Lastly, we ask each of you to visit the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial – National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (nleomf.org). This year during May 9th – 15th we honor our fallen heroes in Washington DC. We count each member who has fallen, and we look upon the families of the fallen with painful regret and anguish, and wish that this too could have passed over them.
We will say it again with no more or less emphasis than before. Elections have consequences and voting really does matter.
Joseph Concannon is a former NYPD Captain, Deputy Director of Public Safety in Mayor Giuliani’s administration, and past Republican candidate for City Council.
New York’s governor and our elected officials who have done the unthinkable and legalized and legitimized pot, do not understand its devastating effects. Now, it’s up to all of us to stand up in our communities, towns, and cities, including NYC and say NO
Theirs is a story that is retold (over and over) before every election.
A party outsider decides to run for office. They dutifully walk the streets, convincing people to sign their petition to get on the ballot. They file said petitions and then, because of a variety of complex, technical and bureaucratic rules, said petitions are rejected and the candidates are denied a spot on the ballot.
The disqualification is then followed by an outcry from those cast aside. They go to court. Sometimes they win. Sometimes they lose.
This script reliably plays out in the lead up to every election in New York City
And it doesn’t just happen to Republicans. Democrats have their fair share of ballot fights as well.
Their complaints are similar: The county parties have a stranglehold on elected office and the electoral process, which those trying to get involved say doesn’t encourage democratic participation. And, the county parties are so deeply entwined with the BOE that it may as well be a rigged system.
But despite these aligned complaints, people on the right and the left who are fighting what is essentially the same battle can’t put aside their partisan politics to fight together.
I wonder what would happen if the frustrated Republicans and Democrats who feel as though their respective county parties are in cahoots with the BOE to keep them out of the electoral process banded together?
