New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio made a stunning announcement yesterday: all large gatherings, including parades, street fairs and concerts will be cancelled in New York City through September. But any and all Black Lives Matter protests will continue unabated.
De Blasio made the announcement on Wolf Blitzer’s program on CNN yesterday.
“Wolf, it’s all about health and safety first…the data is telling us it is not time for large gatherings. No, we don’t need big events any time soon. We’ve had a lot of success making New York City healthier, we gotta really stick to that plan.”
“What about protests? If people want to march down Fifth Avenue are they going to be allowed to do so?,” Blitzer asks.
“Look, Wolf, this is always an area of real sensitivity,” de Blasio responds. “If you’re just talking about health then we would say, hey folks, stay home if you can. But we understand this moment in history, people are talking about the need for historic changes…this is a historic moment of change, we have to respect that.”
“But also say to people the kinds of gatherings we’re used to, the parades, the fairs, we just can’t have that while we’re focusing on health right now.”
In true objective journalistic style, Blitzer followed up with a question on the U.S. Open tennis tournament held in New York City annually in late August, because as Blitzer said, he “loves tennis.”
No politician or public health official has explained the logic behind ordering the American public to lock down because of risks of contracting and spreading Covid19, while allowing large-scale civil unrest to continue unabated, and even sanctioned.
De Blasio is not the only local leader to order all seemingly normal activities halted while continuing to allow protests for Black Lives Matter.