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NYC Mayoral Candidate Isaac Wright Jr. Talks Criminal Justice Reform, Taxing The Rich & Homelessness
Jun 21, 2021
50 Cent’s ABC series ‘For Life’ was based on Isaac Wright He’s time in the justice system fighting for his freedom. He successfully beat the charges he faced and is now fighting to reform the criminal justice system as he runs for mayor of NYC. Wright called in to Sway In The Morning on the eve of the election to talk about what he would do if he won.
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NYC Mayoral Candidate Isaac Wright Jr. Talks Criminal Justice Reform, Taxing The Rich & Homelessness
https://youtu.be/_MFbKh_ViAk
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0:00
please donate now and let's bring home
0:02
the win for new york city
0:04
there he is db do the honors dp do the
0:06
honors
0:09
way uh you know before everything shut
0:12
down due to kovic we had this gentleman
0:13
in the studio to promote the
0:15
biographical series for life on abc
0:17
about his wrongful conviction and
0:19
imprisonment and like you said uh before
0:21
we went to the music he wound up
0:22
studying law learning about the judicial
0:24
system while in prison
0:25
and reverse his life sentence he
0:26
eventually passed the bar in new jersey
0:28
and became a counselor with hunt
0:29
hamlin and ridley but today he's back
0:31
with us to talk about his bid for mayor
0:33
of new york city and i had some
0:34
questions like what we're going to do
0:35
about these
0:36
damn fireworks every night here in
0:37
harlem but anyway he's here
0:39
to talk about his bid for mayor please
0:41
welcome him back isaac
0:42
wright jr mr isaac wright jr
0:47
thank you thank you thank you
0:50
first and foremost it's been a while
0:52
since we've spoken with each other seen
0:54
each other and
0:55
man i'm you're a hero in my book you're
0:58
a hero
0:59
you know there are people who i've had
1:01
conversations with
1:02
before we start talking about your
1:04
mayoral run
1:05
um who have been done wrongly
1:09
incorrectly their civil rights have been
1:12
violated in the court process
1:14
and i told them about you and they
1:16
studied up law
1:18
and started representing themselves and
1:20
um have arrived to a point where
1:22
in a lawsuit this particular person
1:24
who's also my barber
1:26
now um is um potentially going to trial
1:30
on his own
1:31
and i actually want to connect them with
1:32
you so you could give them some insight
1:34
but the point is
1:35
okay you're motivating a lot of people
1:37
who
1:38
probably felt hopeless and helpless in
1:41
these situations when it comes to law
1:43
and you show them how you can fight the
1:45
law when it's working against you so i
1:47
want to say salute to you
1:49
um mr isaac wright jr absolutely man
1:52
um and so we'll connect later on that
1:54
but how you been
1:55
how you been man it's it's uh
1:58
you know it's been a rough a rough rough
1:59
rough ride man you know running for
2:01
mayor
2:02
especially in a city like new york uh
2:04
you stay on the water i mean you're
2:06
always
2:06
playing catch up but you know i've i've
2:08
learned now to breathe underwater so
2:10
it's it it's not as bad as it was when i
2:12
began
2:13
um but you know while i'm in the last
2:15
stretches the primaries is the 22nd
2:17
that's tomorrow
2:18
um and so and so you know i'm even
2:21
though it's been
2:22
it's been a really really rugged road
2:23
i'm happy about everything i feel good
2:26
uh i feel invigorated you know and i'm
2:28
i'm ready to
2:29
to be the next mayor of new york city
2:32
isaac wright jr
2:33
you guys you heard them right there um
2:36
what
2:36
what compelled you like you've been
2:39
through so much
2:40
you know what i mean and it it probably
2:41
could be a whole lot easier life could
2:43
be a whole lot easier working with the
2:45
law firm you got a steady check coming
2:47
in you got some you know what i mean man
2:48
you got some benefits
2:50
you know you know but this right here
2:52
taking on the job of mayor you're going
2:54
to be scrutinized
2:55
every single day of your life what
2:57
compelled you
2:58
absolutely you know i'm at this point in
3:01
my life i'm one of the most sought after
3:03
attorneys
3:04
in the country i mean i get i get
3:06
inquired
3:08
right hold up i'm searched out you know
3:12
from all over and so so this is a
3:14
sacrifice for me
3:15
uh to run for mayor of new york city but
3:18
but this was a
3:19
also a natural progression you know i've
3:21
dedicated
3:22
uh the past 30 40 years of my life uh
3:25
helping other people
3:27
sacrificing the things that i need and
3:29
the wants that i have
3:30
you know for the betterment of mankind
3:32
and to fight for people that can't fight
3:34
for themselves
3:35
and so you know kovit really really put
3:37
new york on its knees
3:39
um the city lost over half a million
3:42
jobs
3:42
you know many many many businesses moved
3:45
out the city's really in trouble
3:47
and what people don't know about the
3:49
city that's that's very very dangerous
3:51
is that it it cannot by law it cannot be
3:54
allowed to raise
3:55
money and so new york is bootstrapped
3:58
by whatever the federal government gives
4:00
them and whatever the state government
4:02
gives them
4:02
and then the rest that they get they
4:04
have to actually raise taxes but they
4:06
can't do it right now
4:07
and so i understood at that point uh
4:09
based on what was happening to new york
4:11
that it was going to take a special
4:12
person
4:13
to really get new york out of that rut
4:14
it was going to take someone who was not
4:16
only able to think outside the box but
4:18
was able to make the impossible possible
4:20
that was able to use the ingredients
4:22
that other people didn't see that was
4:23
right there in new york
4:24
you know to turn things around so it was
4:27
a natural progressing
4:28
progression that that i was that guy
4:30
other
4:31
like no other candidate you know i i was
4:33
the guy that was going to bring new york
4:35
back around
4:36
that was going to help increase the
4:38
quality of lives
4:39
of the people of new york um and so you
4:42
know
4:42
i because of that i threw my hat in the
4:44
race rolled up my sleeves and and got to
4:46
work
4:47
i love it man isaac russia isaac wright
4:50
junior he's running for mayor of new
4:52
york
4:53
uh go ahead bizzle hey isaac what's up
4:55
it's heather how are you
4:57
i'm good heather how are you i'm great i
4:59
have um
5:00
it's being that so this is your first
5:02
time around running for mayor of new
5:04
york city
5:05
uh just suppose for some reason that
5:07
someone else wins
5:09
will you um then spend your time you
5:11
know helping
5:13
that mayor and just trying to be a part
5:15
of that team
5:16
or will you just sort of just step back
5:18
and just work on
5:19
you know your team and building up again
5:21
for the next time
5:23
you know uh folks able to vote for mayor
5:26
well let me let me say to like like this
5:29
um
5:30
i i can this is this is not uh you know
5:34
if the
5:34
if the if the people of new york decide
5:36
not to choose me as mayor you know it's
5:38
the people of new york
5:39
that is going to take a loss and and i'm
5:41
saying this wholeheartedly in the sense
5:42
that that's not
5:43
something that i want to happen and so
5:45
and so i am
5:46
100 open uh to dedicate my time
5:50
and to dedicate my life uh to whoever
5:53
they choose
5:54
uh in order to make new york a better
5:56
place because ultimately
5:57
and what's first and foremost for me is
6:00
is for the people of new york
6:01
to experience an increase in the quality
6:04
of their lives
6:05
and if they choose someone else to do it
6:06
and that person uh then looks
6:08
looks to me uh to help them along the
6:11
way
6:12
uh absolutely absolutely i would i would
6:14
dedicate my time
6:15
uh to doing that so let me get let me
6:19
give you a scenario
6:20
um because i think one of your your
6:23
obvious you have a few strong points
6:25
strong points but criminal justice
6:28
reform and police reform
6:30
i think would be an incredible area for
6:32
you and
6:33
one of the leading candidates eric adams
6:36
um has
6:36
went publicly and explained why he
6:39
supports
6:40
stop and frisk he says when it's used
6:42
legally
6:43
what are your thoughts on stop and frisk
6:46
i i totally i
6:47
eric adams you know and i and i have to
6:49
say this
6:50
candidly he he really disappointed me
6:53
uh in taking that position and and i've
6:55
been on him
6:57
uh about that since the time he took
6:59
that position
7:00
there was a couple of things um that
7:03
that i didn't agree with
7:04
um related to eric adams but it didn't
7:06
you know i don't
7:07
agree with everything you know a person
7:09
says but you know it's the most it's the
7:11
stronger points that's important but
7:13
stop and frisk is a very very strong
7:15
strong point
7:16
it was something that him uh you know as
7:19
a man of color
7:20
as a former police officer uh should
7:22
understand
7:24
that it was the wrong thing to do and
7:26
what it told me
7:27
is that okay the the police unions
7:30
have already bought him that that's what
7:32
that that sent a message to me because i
7:34
i have
7:35
i have more intimate understanding about
7:37
the criminal justice system
7:39
and about the system in just in general
7:41
than eric adams does in all his years of
7:43
service
7:44
because he's never been on the side of
7:46
the law and the side of the system
7:48
and had to fight through those issues
7:50
that i have he's never done that
7:52
so i understand intimately um how wrong
7:56
he is by saying that
7:57
stop and frisk is a policy that needs to
7:59
be uh
8:00
trashed and trashed forever uh
8:03
it it actually breeds uh misconduct
8:06
it breeds abuse uh and you and and you
8:09
don't get anything positive out of it i
8:11
i understand his position
8:13
he's 100 wrong there's no such thing
8:16
you know and this is very important for
8:17
me to say there's no such thing
8:20
as controlling a police officer that is
8:23
on the beat
8:23
he's up in his office in the mayor's
8:25
office you know
8:27
this this this police officer these
8:29
police officers are in the street
8:31
using their personal discretion on when
8:34
they want to
8:35
do a stop and frisk and what that means
8:38
is that personal discretion
8:39
is anything that they feel at the time
8:42
they want to use to stop a person in
8:43
christian
8:44
so you cannot control that and for him
8:46
to say that that's something that can be
8:48
controlled
8:49
that you got to stop police from abusing
8:51
that is incredibly
8:52
naive to me to the point where i know he
8:55
knows better
8:56
and and he's made promises now that he
8:58
has to keep
8:59
that's those promises are in detriment
9:02
to the general public
9:04
isaac wright jr he's running for mayor
9:06
of new york primaries
9:07
are tomorrow the democratic and
9:09
republican primaries are tomorrow the
9:11
general election is in november tracy
9:13
you want to jump in
9:14
yes please so happy to have you on the
9:16
line with us mr wright
9:18
i'm curious yes with all of um your
9:21
history of new jersey and then passing
9:23
the bar
9:24
why not focus on being the mayor or the
9:26
governor of jersey versus new york
9:29
because i'm from new york i mean what a
9:31
lot of people don't know
9:33
about my history is that when this
9:36
incident happened to me you know
9:37
before it happened you know i moved to
9:40
new york as a as a young kid
9:41
i was 18 years old married very early
9:44
had a child
9:45
um the first place that we lived is is
9:49
extreme avenue 145th street we went then
9:52
from there to
9:52
far rockaway when i lived in the the
9:55
housing complex
9:56
projects and then from there to crown
9:57
heights and by the time
9:59
i moved to crown heights you know i got
10:00
a really big break i was on star search
10:03
um
10:04
for several weeks and i parlayed that to
10:06
a very successful
10:07
entertainment career this is this is i'm
10:09
living in new york and uh
10:11
my ex-wife um she uh
10:15
i put her in a group that i co-founded
10:16
called the cover girls they were selling
10:18
millions of records so we were doing
10:19
really well
10:20
whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa
10:21
whoa your ex-wife was in the cover girls
10:25
yes sunshine oh snap oh okay yeah i was
10:29
a big fan of that group but i didn't
10:30
know that
10:31
all right my bad man i died my digress i
10:34
didn't realize that
10:35
hits man the younger girls had hits baby
10:37
all right go ahead yeah yes
10:38
i had a lot of hits i mean we were on
10:40
top of the world and so
10:42
what we what we decided to do what most
10:44
people did back then when they
10:46
in the industry when when they were
10:47
coming up and they were getting a lot of
10:49
money
10:49
they had to move to westchester they
10:51
wanted to get out of the city they
10:52
wanted to take a break
10:53
they either moved to westchester or they
10:54
moved over to new jersey
10:56
so we moved over to new jersey and
10:59
within nine months i was in jail facing
11:01
a life sentence
11:02
it was nine months in new jersey you
11:04
know but so so i'm from
11:06
you know new york is my place and that's
11:07
why i'm running in new york now
11:10
there are reasons why there are other
11:12
reasons why it would be
11:13
it would be logical for me to run for
11:16
office in new jersey when you look at
11:17
all the things that occurred
11:19
uh with me in new jersey when you look
11:21
at the fight that i had with new jersey
11:23
and the way i turned things
11:24
around in new jersey you know but but i
11:27
never lived in new jersey as a free man
11:30
with in any type of significant way most
11:32
of my time
11:33
98 of my time living in new jersey was
11:36
as a prisoner
11:38
and so when i left new jersey i came
11:40
back to new york even i'm licensed in
11:42
new jersey
11:42
but i go to my office from new york i
11:44
leave new york
11:45
and go to new jersey and when i leave my
11:47
office i come back home to new york
11:50
okay got it that makes sense to me um
11:53
isaac wright jr is running for
11:55
mayor of new york um we got a little
11:58
we got some how you feel about stop and
12:00
frisk how you feel about taxes because
12:02
uh another candidate who
12:04
who i i really like i see her on the
12:05
ground a lot uh maya wiley
12:08
um and and she spoke on taxes raising
12:11
taxes
12:12
on the rich and now she was supporting a
12:14
bill by robert jackson democrat out of
12:16
manhattan who wanted to raise the state
12:18
income tax from a range to 7.01
12:21
to 13.81 for people earning between 300
12:25
and 100 million per year what are your
12:28
thoughts on raising taxes on the rich
12:30
well well this is the thing and this is
12:32
not this is nothing against
12:35
um maya you know there's nothing against
12:37
her uh
12:38
she worked with the bill de blasio
12:40
administration but you know look
12:43
one of the things about talking to
12:45
people talking to your constituents and
12:47
talking to voters to get them to know
12:49
who you are and the things that that i
12:51
don't like about
12:52
that is telling them things
12:55
that you believe they want to hear to
12:57
get their votes you know
12:59
poor people people lower lower income
13:01
people
13:02
people that struggle every day the
13:04
average worker every day
13:05
trying to make ends meet they don't like
13:08
the rich
13:09
they don't like the way that that the
13:11
disparity between
13:13
uh uh incomes they don't like the way
13:16
that they're being held down uh by
13:20
by the societal elite uh and so when you
13:23
say i'm going to raise taxes on the rich
13:26
you know you're feeding in into that
13:29
into that mindset
13:30
that that really doesn't allow them to
13:33
see the reality of something like that
13:35
i don't believe in and raising taxes on
13:38
the rich when i understand that that's
13:39
not the answer
13:40
i know that's not the answer and i'm
13:42
going to give you a couple of reasons
13:44
why i'm saying this
13:45
number one when you tax the rich
13:49
and it's been it's happened before over
13:52
and over again what we found
13:54
that the rich still don't pay taxes i
13:56
mean
13:58
these are not these are the things that
13:59
that people are not reminding the public
14:02
of this is not the first time that we've
14:04
heard politicians say
14:06
that they're going to raise taxes on the
14:07
rich this is not the first time that
14:08
they've actually
14:09
raised taxes on the rich and then we
14:11
find out later on
14:13
that the rich hardly pay any taxes right
14:16
because of so many write-offs after they
14:18
raise the taxes
14:20
they put so many other write-offs on the
14:22
book that it doesn't even make any
14:24
difference
14:25
the other thing about raising taxes on
14:27
the rich is that why are you going to do
14:29
that when you can say
14:30
listen the more jobs that you create the
14:33
more people that you hire
14:35
the lower we're going to put your tax
14:36
rate because the real issue is not
14:38
raising tax on the rich
14:40
the real issue is giving people more
14:41
jobs these are the people
14:44
that that when they look at their check
14:46
they see a third of their income gone
14:47
to the government in taxes it's them
14:51
so so why don't you increase more jobs
14:54
and in turn that increases you know your
14:57
taxing budget
14:59
but instead they want to say we're going
15:01
to raise uh incu taxes on the rich
15:04
knowing knowing farewell
15:08
very well that that does not work they
15:10
know that
15:11
and so that's what a problem i have with
15:13
raising taxes
15:14
what does work in terms of taxes
15:18
jobs remember something remember what i
15:20
just said when you look at your check
15:23
almost a third of your check is gone in
15:25
taxes the average person that works
15:28
for a living and brings home a check
15:31
almost a third of that is gone already
15:33
before they even spend their money
15:34
before they even get their check
15:36
a third of that money is gone and
15:38
already given to the government
15:40
what that means is is that more jobs
15:42
that you create
15:44
more people is getting income and the
15:46
government is getting more money
15:48
but when you raise taxes on the rich and
15:51
then they spend millions of dollars on
15:52
accounting on accountants
15:54
to help them save that tax dollar you're
15:57
not doing anything
15:59
you you're not you're you're not you're
16:01
you're absolutely not
16:02
uh creating a scenario where the where
16:06
the backbone
16:07
of government is on the working class
16:10
that's still not going to change
16:12
it's going to still always be that way
16:13
so tell the truth
16:15
tell people what it really is and then
16:17
help them after they know what it really
16:19
is
16:20
the truth is is that we don't need to
16:22
raise taxes on the rich we need to
16:23
require the rich to create more jobs we
16:26
need to employ more people
16:28
the government's going to get that money
16:29
anyway but in the end
16:31
more people are going to be making an
16:33
income more people are going to be
16:34
making a better living
16:36
okay isaac wright junior is with us
16:39
right now
16:39
um hey uh uh i was watching i've been
16:44
watching somebody in the background i
16:45
could hear you taking the call of you
16:47
um i was oh db i'm sorry
16:50
i was um watching uh i've been watching
16:52
the debates
16:53
you know what i mean and i i i actually
16:55
like them you know debates a little
16:57
different than the last presidential run
17:00
the last two right you know you know
17:02
you're actually hearing a lot of policy
17:04
being discussed
17:05
and you know man uh uh mr wright i'm
17:08
from oakland california right but i've
17:10
been living in new york for
17:11
20 years that 20 plus years now i got
17:14
harlem in my blood
17:16
and one of the things that they have the
17:18
similarities they have is the
17:19
homelessness
17:20
is just just disproportion
17:23
to a degree i have never seen in oakland
17:26
and i have
17:27
never seen in new york quite the way it
17:30
is and i know there was a camp there was
17:32
a debate i want to say wednesday i
17:34
believe and andrew yang took a lot of
17:35
criticism
17:36
um they were talking about homelessness
17:38
and the mentally ill and he said
17:40
something to the tune of yes mentally
17:41
ill people have rights
17:43
but you know who else have rights we do
17:45
the people and families of the city we
17:46
have the right to walk the street and
17:48
not fear for our safety because a
17:50
mentally ill person is going to lash out
17:52
at us
17:52
what are your thoughts of that and why
17:55
are you standing on homelessness
17:57
eradicating homelessness
17:59
one of the things uh is that that shows
18:02
uh a lack of sensitivity it was a very
18:07
uh insensitive comment uh because
18:10
he he has not done the job that he's
18:13
supposed
18:14
to do in researching these issues and
18:16
understanding what it's about
18:17
i don't blame him for not knowing
18:19
because he lived a different life
18:21
i blamed him for wanting to be a leader
18:24
and not getting himself
18:25
qualified intellectually by read through
18:28
research
18:29
on on on what's really going on out
18:31
there one of the things
18:32
my my issue with with homelessness and
18:35
and
18:36
especially mental illness uh is is right
18:39
with the mayor's office
18:41
and as next mayor those are things that
18:42
that are going to that are going to be
18:44
strictly adhered to in terms of in terms
18:47
of mitigating those problems
18:48
in terms of finding solutions to resolve
18:51
those issues and these are things that
18:52
we can do so so for example
18:54
you know those two issues of
18:55
homelessness and mental illness some of
18:58
it
18:58
is hand in hand a lot of people that are
19:01
mentally ill
19:02
are also homeless and and not just
19:04
because families abandon them
19:06
it's because the burden of of taking
19:09
care of
19:10
someone that that has mental illness is
19:12
an extremely difficult burden
19:14
it's an individual who a lot of times is
19:16
out of your control because they're
19:18
adults
19:18
there's limited amount of things that
19:20
you can do for them when they refuse
19:22
treatment and the government doesn't
19:23
step in to ensure just to support
19:26
the city of new york to support these
19:27
families that have that
19:29
have memories of mental illness the way
19:30
they're supposed to they don't do that
19:32
they abandon their responsibility and
19:34
and and what needs to happen
19:36
both the fire department and nypd
19:40
needs to have mental illness units units
19:43
that are specifically designed
19:45
to deal with the mentally ill especially
19:47
those in those situations where they are
19:49
homeless and on the street
19:50
and in those situations where you have
19:52
these medical emergencies
19:53
and when i say that i am not talking
19:55
about people in these in these
19:57
organizations
19:58
that are going out there to arrest other
20:00
individuals i'm talking about
20:02
these are medical units for example when
20:04
you look at the fire department
20:06
the fire department has a medical unit
20:08
the police department needs to have the
20:10
same thing
20:11
very specifically toward medical
20:14
attention not
20:14
towards arrest and investigation and
20:17
saying that we have to go to the housing
20:19
issue on the homeless
20:20
issue one of the things that that's a
20:21
problem with homelessness
20:23
and there's ways to resolve that that
20:24
other mayors before us now haven't
20:26
resolved it
20:26
and the candidates that are talking now
20:28
doesn't have the right answers
20:30
when you go into a shelter when you have
20:32
maybe you have a a a
20:33
family or or a single mother who's who's
20:37
ran into some some some some some issues
20:40
in her life
20:41
uh maybe a fire in her home maybe
20:43
domestic violence
20:44
but now for whatever reason she's off
20:46
the street with her family
20:48
and now she goes into a shelter what's
20:50
supposed to be a couple of weeks
20:52
up to 30 days turns into six months a
20:54
year two years and a shelter
20:56
that's totally ridiculous for city of
20:58
new york and let me tell you why that's
21:00
happening
21:00
and what the solution is new york at any
21:03
given time
21:04
has thousands have up to 10 000 empty
21:07
units in the city
21:08
across all boroughs and what the next
21:11
mayor is supposed to do and what i am
21:13
going to do as
21:13
the next mayor as i will require every
21:16
single landlord in the city
21:18
to register their units in a central
21:21
database
21:23
that central database will be connected
21:24
to every shelter to every transitional
21:27
home
21:27
in the city so that at a fingers notice
21:31
these people can look and see what units
21:33
are available reach out to these
21:35
these landlords and and place these
21:37
people who are in these shelters
21:39
within 30 days to permanent housing
21:42
because you have a lot of landlords out
21:44
there that will invite them
21:46
that will that will invite market rent
21:48
to
21:49
to give permanent housing to to single
21:51
moms and other people
21:53
you know who are in in distress like
21:55
that and this is the reason why we're
21:56
having that problem because new york
21:58
new york city and it's in its
22:00
bureaucracy
22:02
in terms of being able to reach out and
22:05
touch the ingredients that are right
22:06
there in the city
22:07
i.e these empty vacant units have not
22:10
been able to do that
22:11
because they have not had the leadership
22:13
that sees
22:14
that these ingredients are there and i
22:16
can find a way to put them together to
22:18
work best with the people of new york
22:19
that's one of the things that i will
22:20
change immediately day one in office
22:23
okay ma'am isaac wright jr man you mind
22:25
taking one or two questions
22:28
absolutely okay cool man uh citizens
22:31
he's running for mayor of new york
22:32
we know him from the series for life on
22:35
abc
22:36
he was convicted of a crime wrongfully
22:38
accused
22:39
and he uh represented himself and not
22:41
only has he gotten himself
22:43
uh the the crime the the sentence
22:45
reversed
22:46
in the sponge he's done it with others
22:48
and have gone on to be
22:49
one of the most sought after attorneys
22:51
in this country so i know when it comes
22:53
to criminal justice
22:55
and police reform mr isaac wright jr i
22:58
know you got to
22:59
you should you should have the best plan
23:01
you know
23:03
i heard catherine garcia saying she she
23:06
she will have zero tolerance for ruling
23:08
fractions by police officers zero
23:10
tolerance
23:11
before i take these calls what is your
23:14
plan for police reform criminal justice
23:16
and police reform and i know that's a
23:18
difficult one to tackle here in new york
23:21
it's an extremely difficult one and you
23:24
know
23:25
again uh you know we can't be
23:28
we can't be naive about what the reality
23:30
is um
23:31
and when when a when a candidate says
23:33
that you know that they have
23:35
that they're going to have zero
23:36
tolerance um you know for for police
23:39
misconduct
23:40
or or you know police infractions um
23:44
you know it begs it begs the question
23:48
what does that actually mean what are
23:49
you going to do about it what is your
23:51
what is your zero tolerance entail in
23:54
terms of policy issues
23:55
uh that's going to correct these
23:57
problems and the first thing that comes
23:59
out of my mind
24:00
in in in the the issues that i know
24:03
as mayor that i would face the true
24:05
issue that i know as marriage
24:06
that i would face when it comes down to
24:08
nypd is not the police at all
24:10
it's the union all right it's the the
24:13
real problem
24:15
uh with police is is the way in which
24:18
the union
24:19
protects their wrongdoing they nurture
24:22
uh and they grow a culture of silence
24:25
uh a a culture of of of
24:28
quasi omnipotence uh and a man and a
24:32
militarized mentality
24:34
where the police do not even see
24:36
themselves of servants of the people
24:39
you know they they see themselves of of
24:42
as an
24:42
authoritarian regime over the people
24:46
and when you go when you when you talk
24:48
about having zero tolerance
24:50
and you talk about and i'm going to give
24:53
mayor de blasio
24:54
as an example he talks out about police
24:56
brutality
24:57
on a press conference one day 5 000
25:00
police officers don't show up for work
25:02
the next day
25:03
what is he going to do and and so just
25:06
to say
25:07
just to say i have zero tolerance is not
25:10
the it
25:10
is not the answer the answer is you have
25:13
a union
25:14
as mayor you're going to have a union
25:15
that you have to deal with
25:17
that through the decades have parlayed a
25:21
power base
25:22
that keeps the mayor in check and that
25:25
is the truth
25:26
about nypd and and the unions that they
25:29
keep the mayor in check
25:30
because the mayor knows that he needs to
25:32
continue to be able to protect
25:34
new york city and so and so the answer
25:37
to that
25:38
the first thing that a mayor has to do
25:40
is understand how to deal with a union
25:42
and i don't want to i don't want to be
25:44
you know on
25:45
on the air giving other candidates
25:48
my ideas without them coming and sitting
25:51
down to me
25:51
whether i want to lose is isaac i need
25:54
to talk to you about these issues
25:56
you know is is there something that you
25:57
could tell me that can help us i'd
25:58
rather do it that way
26:00
but let me just say this because i don't
26:02
want to give i don't want to
26:03
specifically give this ideas out
26:05
but there's a way to deal with the with
26:07
the with the nypd police union
26:09
in ways that they would come to the
26:11
table and negotiate
26:12
even-handedly with the police i mean
26:15
with the mayor
26:15
and i'm not just saying that in a vacuum
26:17
i'm going to give you some background as
26:19
to why i know what i'm talking about
26:21
one of the things that you mentioned and
26:23
earlier on in your show
26:24
is me getting released from prison how i
26:27
got released from prison and
26:29
you can do your research all you got to
26:30
do is google it you'll see that this is
26:32
true
26:33
i got out of prison because seven and a
26:34
half years later all my appeals are gone
26:37
i'm facing a retrial on the life
26:39
sentence i have
26:40
i'm doing 70 years on the convictions
26:43
that weren't overturned
26:44
and i'm at this final hearing to try to
26:46
show to prove to a court of law
26:49
that i was set up that i was that i was
26:51
innocent
26:52
and that the that there was corrupt
26:53
police and prosecutors
26:55
that that did me wrong how i
26:58
convinced the court to of that was i got
27:01
a police officer a law enforcement
27:03
officer who was a detective
27:05
in the prosecutor's office when i was
27:07
arrested who now turned out seven and a
27:09
half years later
27:10
to be the chief of the police academy
27:13
i got this man and he was a white
27:16
officer
27:16
i was a black young black man i got this
27:19
man
27:20
this law enforcement officer to confess
27:22
on the stand
27:24
where he put himself in prison
27:27
in order that i may go free okay
27:30
and that's that's that's significant for
27:32
me to say because in order for me to do
27:34
that
27:35
i had to understand how to dig through
27:37
all that corruption
27:38
and touch the human being in this
27:41
officer
27:42
that's humanity my intimate my intimacy
27:45
with law enforcement
27:47
allows me to understand how i need to
27:48
deal with the unions
27:50
in order to be able to at least get to
27:52
the table
27:54
and start bridging the gap through
27:56
policies and procedures and agendas
27:58
and programs bridging the gap between
28:02
what the community sees in law
28:04
enforcement and what law enforcement
28:05
sees in themselves
28:06
and um there's no one no other candidate
28:08
with the background to do that
28:10
better than me isaac right junior um i
28:13
find his story fascinating which is why
28:15
he's on the show with us today
28:17
uh 50 cent has gone public and and said
28:21
that you're a really solid guy
28:23
does that mean he's endorsing you will
28:25
we see 50 on the campaign trail with you
28:28
well
28:32
was the first one you know to to jump up
28:35
right there by my side and say listen
28:37
isaac and
28:38
you know and this is an exact word but
28:40
we don't even need to have a
28:40
conversation
28:42
you tell me what you want and you got it
28:44
you know he's and he's always
28:45
he's always been from the very first day
28:47
that i met 50 you know he's he showed me
28:50
that kind of respect and
28:51
and it's mutual you know it's reciprocal
28:53
he i have the utmost respect for him
28:55
he's been with me from day one
28:57
he will continue to be with me you know
28:59
the unfortunate and unfortunate thing
29:01
right now is that the primaries is
29:03
tomorrow so we're coming to the end of
29:05
this phase
29:06
of these proceedings and i'm hoping that
29:07
the people of new york allow us to start
29:09
a new phase
29:10
to move into the general election and if
29:12
they do 50 will be right there with me
29:14
right by my side
29:15
there it is and speaking of the people
29:17
from new york since the primaries of
29:18
tomorrow you're speaking directly with a
29:20
lot of folks from new york
29:21
so marissa is in brooklyn and she has a
29:24
direct question for you mr isaac right
29:26
junior marissa graham rises
29:29
hi how are you doing great i'm good
29:33
how's everything i was just wondering um
29:34
how you're going to balance
29:37
police reform with the crazy spike in
29:40
crime in new york city that we all
29:41
cannot turn a blind eye to
29:43
woo that's an incredible question and
29:46
i'm glad you asked it you know
29:48
the first thing that has to be done is
29:50
to have a realistic
29:52
understanding on what it means to be a
29:54
police like
29:55
what what what do we expect from our law
29:58
enforcement officers
29:59
and so you know it's important for me to
30:01
say that as mayor of new york
30:04
you know i would look at law enforcement
30:06
for just what they are they enforce the
30:07
law and they investigate crime
30:10
when it comes down to crime prevention
30:12
crime prevention
30:14
is responsibility of the community you
30:16
know when crime happens the police come
30:18
after it happens 90 of the time 98 of
30:21
the time
30:22
they show up after it happens and we
30:23
cannot expect them
30:25
uh to be crime preventers when the first
30:27
people the people that are
30:29
ground zero uh is people in the
30:31
community but let me give you a good
30:32
example of why i'm saying what i'm
30:34
saying
30:35
a violent crime occurs in the community
30:37
that violent crime usually is the result
30:39
of a conflict
30:41
that had a that has occurred previously
30:43
the public
30:44
and the people in the community knows
30:46
about these conflicts
30:48
they know that these are conflicts that
30:50
can ultimately turn into violence
30:52
and so there are there are grassroots
30:54
organizations
30:56
in these communities all over the city
30:58
whose specific responsibility
31:00
is to identify these conflicts to
31:03
mitigate them and resolve them
31:05
before they turn into crimes and violent
31:07
crimes the mayor's office the full
31:10
force power of the mayor's office should
31:12
be behind these grassroots organizations
31:14
they should be fully funded and they
31:16
should be allowed and be
31:18
able to work with uh law enforcement in
31:21
order to weed out
31:22
uh these conflicts and i'm not saying
31:24
these organizations
31:25
are supposed to be an investigative tool
31:28
of law enforcement
31:28
absolutely not what i'm saying is is
31:31
that these organizations
31:33
should be empowered uh and funded to
31:36
continue to resolve these issues
31:38
and if violence does occur they should
31:40
be right there on the scene
31:42
right along with law enforcement to
31:43
understand how that happened how that
31:45
got past them
31:46
these are the things that minimizes that
31:49
mitigates the crime level
31:50
these are the things that law
31:52
enforcement needs law enforcement
31:54
needs the cooperation of the community
31:57
in order
31:57
to bring down the crime rate they need
31:59
the community involved
32:01
in preventing crime in order to bring
32:03
down the crime rate
32:04
and the and and new york city's next
32:06
leader needs to understand that
32:08
importance
32:09
and and be in a position to be able to
32:11
bridge that gap
32:12
to be able to support these grassroots
32:14
organizations so they can do the jobs
32:16
that they need to do
32:17
in order to make new york sacramento
32:18
right along with the law enforcement
32:21
okay hey maria yes i totally agree and i
32:23
would ask you
32:24
my last question is do you think
32:26
fatherlessness and lack of after-school
32:28
activities for kids
32:30
because i've done research on it a lot
32:31
and most crimes of teenagers
32:34
and kids happen between the times of
32:36
three to seven when they're getting out
32:37
of school they don't have anything to do
32:39
but their parents are still at work
32:41
would you do anything to help
32:43
guide kids not to get into gangs or
32:46
steal or fight or anything like that
32:49
during those hours because they really
32:50
don't have anywhere else to go because
32:52
of a lack of funding at the schools
32:54
or they don't have a father at home or
32:56
their mothers working two jobs to
32:58
support them
32:59
how would you go about helping the
33:00
community with that
33:03
well those are those are also
33:04
significant questions and
33:06
and they they require two specific
33:09
answers
33:09
dealing with uh very very unique policy
33:13
agendas that i have in those areas
33:15
one is the area of education and and the
33:18
and the other is the area of direction
33:20
uh
33:21
and in terms of education i i get i need
33:23
to give a quick back
33:25
backdrop so i can explain explain how
33:28
this
33:28
this this actually trickles down uh in
33:31
into into avoiding and mitigating some
33:34
of the troubles that these young kids
33:36
get into
33:36
so you know when you look at the the
33:39
neighborhood of bay ridge
33:40
and i'm using bay ridge as an example of
33:42
a really nice neighborhood
33:43
where the property values are very high
33:45
you know schools are funded based on
33:47
property values
33:48
and so the school in bay ridge is going
33:50
to get more money
33:52
than a school in east new york and what
33:54
happens is that that disparity
33:56
and the quality of education trickles
33:59
down throughout the collective
34:00
it trickles down where there's the the
34:02
quality of education is worse
34:04
where the extra extracurricular
34:05
activities for these kids
34:07
you know are not as great uh even even
34:10
where the
34:11
the the school environment school safety
34:13
uh is affected
34:14
and so these kids that that are in those
34:17
areas that are in the areas of east new
34:19
york when they leave their home
34:20
and you know people in new york they
34:22
struggle to survive
34:23
they leave they leave their home and
34:25
they leave that that agitating
34:27
environment
34:27
you know where they see mom and dad or
34:29
mom you know struggling to make ends
34:31
meet
34:31
and they leave that they go to school
34:33
which is supposed to be a free
34:35
a free really exciting uh environment
34:38
for them to live and they see the same
34:40
kind of hopelessness and the reason is
34:42
is because of the disparity
34:44
and school funding and so for me if ray
34:46
ridge gets a million dollars
34:48
i'd say scrap the property value issue
34:51
if bay ridge gets a million dollars for
34:52
school east new york should get a
34:54
million dollars for school
34:55
there should be equalizations uh across
34:58
all communities
34:59
and the value of education and in
35:01
budgeting education
35:02
so that so that when these kids go to
35:04
school and they have
35:05
increased extracurricular activities
35:07
very very high quality
35:09
exciting extracurricular activities
35:11
increasing high quality
35:13
education it becomes a place where they
35:15
want to be
35:16
it comes it becomes an exciting refuge
35:18
for them to learn
35:19
and then and to grow and so that's one
35:21
of the policy agendas that i have
35:23
is to equalize funding in the school
35:25
system throughout the city of new york
35:26
the other issue which is extremely
35:28
significant um
35:30
is what are what's what happens after
35:31
school what about these younger kids
35:33
coming out of coming out of high school
35:36
you have 18
35:37
17 18 year old kids graduating coming
35:40
out of high school that you know
35:41
turn to gangs wound up in prison or even
35:45
worse
35:46
and one of the reasons why is because a
35:47
lot of these kids
35:49
they have incredible ideas but they're
35:50
not going to college and they have no
35:52
guidance they have nowhere
35:53
nothing to prop them up there's a
35:55
program that i have
35:56
uh called a young entrepreneur program
35:59
where the city
36:01
as mayor of of new york the city will
36:04
give these young kids that's coming out
36:05
of high school but are not going to
36:07
college that have great ideas
36:08
they will give them grants to start
36:10
their own business
36:11
imagining thousands of 18 17 18 and 19
36:15
year olds
36:15
being able to be young entrepreneurs
36:18
started their own business the city's
36:19
behind them
36:20
we mentor them for 18 months so that he
36:22
can grow their wings and fly
36:23
this is something that a city has a
36:25
responsibility to do
36:27
and a mayor has to ensure as the city's
36:29
leader and this is one of the things
36:31
that i would be doing
36:32
from day one it would not only bring
36:34
down this delinquency
36:36
but it will give these kids the kind of
36:38
direction that they need coming
36:40
out into adulthood trying to find their
36:42
own way and that's something that i'm
36:43
going to do
36:44
as new york city's next mayor all right
36:46
man hey marissa i love your questions
36:49
thank you marissa you are
36:50
listening okay marissa in the morning
36:52
thank you don't keep on the police we
36:54
need them
36:55
thank you okay marissa appreciate you
36:58
salute
36:58
marissa all about it there mr wright jr
37:05
great question absolutely well i wanted
37:08
to give you this
37:09
this this platform because i know how it
37:12
is
37:13
you know like you said it's extremely
37:14
hard and if you ain't a front runner if
37:16
you're not a marquee name
37:17
you don't get the headlines you don't
37:19
get the coverage but your family here
37:21
and we wanted to make sure you got a
37:23
chance to
37:24
speak your piece and talk about your
37:25
policies the primaries if you're in new
37:27
york city for democrats and republicans
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is
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you know tomorrow you know and so make
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sure you guys get out there if you want
37:33
to find out more about
37:35
mr isaac wright uh junior go to
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write for nyc 2021.com
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so that's right w-r-i-g-h-t
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for f-o-r new york city which is nyc
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2021.com find out what this campaign is
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all about
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hey man good to talk to you keep making
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keep rising brother
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thank you first grade thank you very
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thank you very very much
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and in addition to my website if you
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want to go on my instagram i have a lot
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of stuff really
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related to my policies i have a lot of
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information there related to my
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background
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you know it's isaac wright jr at isaac
38:12
wright jr
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uh come see me on instagram twitter
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facebook or come on my website
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check me out go to the polls uh today is
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early voting
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go to the post tomorrow at last day of
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voting vote isaac wright jr it's ranked
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choice vote for me
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number one uh as your next mayor of new
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york city thank you so much
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thank you my brother we'll talk soon man
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all right
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and keep keep pounding baby we got you
38:37
salute all right
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oh man dude was wrongfully convicted
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spend time behind bars
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crazy crazy come on
39:04
[Music]
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you
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