Rudy Giuliani: Crime and Racism

Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City and current Presidential Candidate, has one unflinching, steadfast policy; he is tough on crime. Mr. Giuliani has a distinguished career as a crime-fighter. According to the Academy of Achievement, Giuliani was a clerk to a Federal Court Judge, an Assistant United States Attorney, Chief of the Narcotics Unit, Executive U.S. Attorney, Associate Deputy Attorney General, partner in a prestigious law firm, Associate Attorney General, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and, of course, Mayor of New York City.

Mr. Giuliani has a reputation for prosecuting mob bosses, corrupt politicians and Wall Street inside traders. During his career as U.S. Attorney he was highly regarded as the most effective prosecutor in the United States. During his eight years as Mayor the crime rate in New York declined by 57 percent and the FBI rated New York City as America's safest large city. This is not bolstering; these are stone cold facts.

However, there is a cold consequence to these stone cold crime fighting facts. Giuliani's critics allege his lifelong penchant for the pursuit of crime is tainted by racism.

According to the City Journal, Giuliani's critics claim that he lowered crime in New York City by allowing police officers to oppress black and Latino New Yorkers with brute force. The magazine, In These Times, published Steve Wishnia's review of the movie Giuliani Time which states, "But the racial subtext of Giuliani's policies eventually caused his political downfall. The 1999 police killing of Amadou Diallo, an African immigrant shot 19 times because he pulled a wallet during a police stop, cracked the mayor's invincibility. Giuliani dismissed the ensuing protests as "silly," which translated to many as callous and racist."

The In These Times review also asserts that Giuliani's ban on squeegee men (windshield washers) is a form of racism as it plays on the white driver's fear of "ragged looking black men." The review's accusations of racism mount charging that Giuliani waged a vindictive pursuit of Haitian refugees because they protested the police killing of a Haitian immigrant. When David Dinkins, New York's first black mayor presided over the city, Giuliani led a mob of white cops shouting "Bullshit" at City Hall. Giuliani's policies on welfare reform, school vouchers, low-income housing, and anti-political protests are also labeled racist in this review.

According to an article by Heather MacDonald in the City Journal, though blacks constitute only 24 percent of New York City's population, they committed 68.5 percent of all murders, rapes, robberies, and assaults in the city last year. Also, any given violent crime in New York is 13 times more likely to be perpetrated by a black person than a white person.

Given these assertions, could Giuliani, or any other public official, crack down hard on crime in New York City without the stigma of racism rearing its ugly head?

Nationally, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, at midyear 2005, nearly 6 in 10 offenders in local jails were racial or ethnic minorities, which was nearly unchanged in the last 10 years. Nearly 4.7 percent of black males were in prison or jail, compared to 1.9 percent of Hispanic males, and 0.7 percent of white males. Among males in their late 20s, nearly 12 percent of black males, compared to 3.9 percent of Hispanic males and 1.7 percent of white males, were incarcerated.

The last thing the USA needs is a racist as President. One of the things this country needs most is an expert in dealing with the criminal element, especially when it comes to terrorism. Will accusations of racism outweigh Rudy Giuliani's lifelong, distinguished, anti-crime career?