Remembering David Dinkins, NYC's Only Black Mayor | NYT News

The first African-American mayor of New York spoke to The Times in 2013 about his rise to City Hall and his fall after criticism for his handling of racial violence in Brooklyn in 1991.
Read the story here: nyti.ms/2Jc0h31
Subscribe: bit.ly/U8Ys7n
More from The New York Times Video: nytimes.com/video
----------
Whether it's reporting on conflicts abroad and political divisions at home, or covering the latest style trends and scientific developments, New York Times video journalists provide a revealing and unforgettable view of the world. It's all the news that's fit to watch.

[@jashanestone]

When I was just a child we hit the streets for his Mayoral race. Handing out flyers, going to his rallies. It was my first introduction to politics. I also started paying more attention to politics. Started watching Bill Maher at age 15.. lol My first vote was at age 18 as an Independent. I'm 42 now..

[@nickc3657]

Do you still watch Bill Maher?

[@matematiginparadoksu987]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpeohIWuoNOdnZo 👈 is about Covid19 👌

[@ContrastWithSepiaPrince]

I was a few weeks from turning 10 years old when Dinkins came into office. As a young Black boy in the South Bronx, surrounded by crack and prostitution, as well as being taught by nuns in Catholic school, I was happy to see a face that looked like mine, with dignity and class in such a high position. I am 41 years old now.

[@marcus8176]

Giuliani using voter intimidation and suppression- stop me if you've heard this one before.

[@sunnylilme]

His concession speech was classy, selfless.

[@matematiginparadoksu987]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpeohIWuoNOdnZo 👈 is about Covid19 👌

[@Outright_Mike]

The sad thing is that those allegations against Giuliani's camp were scooped under the rug. With what happened during the 2020 US election, we have more proof and more examples of how they've been operating voter suppression.

[@sharondessisso8400]

If you run a red light and hit a pedestrian it’s not an accident. It’s a crime. Running a red light is against the law. The driver should’ve been arrested. The revenge killing of an innocent man was wrong and should’ve been condemned. That was not the solution. The driver who ran the red light should’ve been held into account.

[@danielrobinson9270]

The first mayor I really got to watch on television. He became mayor when I was 14 years old. Seeing Mr. Dinkins a Black man was a great inspiration to me as a kid growing up in East NY Brooklyn. He was such a man of great dignity and class. He will be missed. One of the great mayors of New York. I always wanted him to run again. One term was not enough. My prayers and condolences. R.I.P. Mr. Dinkins.

[@ccie4101]

He was the second worst mayor of NYC

[@jenniferreese6805]

What an amazing man. I never heard about him until now. RIH Mayor Dinkins. God bless you and your family

[@kyser3ify]

10 years ago I read a book about the history of Times Square. When I learned that David Dinkins was the one who negotiated with corporate America to invest in Times Square I was surprised. Guiliani always ran with the narrative that it was him who did it.

[@JK-gu3tl]

Wonder why gov't has to get involved in the first place. You would think folks would fight over that prime real estate.

[@StyleNina]

This is absolutely beautiful to see. Thank you for this 🙏🏾.

[@neofulcrum5013]

I never knew him personally. But he made another important chapter in our people’s history.

[@richiebee1984]

PREACH!! RIP

[@matematiginparadoksu987]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpeohIWuoNOdnZo 👈 is about Covid19 👌

[@waymillion3268]

Do you want to become a millionaire? Enter the link www.waymillion.com/2021

[@adriennebrailsford6291]

Cops and kids was so real. I was in elementary school when cops I guess designated to be in our area came, introduced themselves and began developing a rapport with the kids. I didn’t learn the negative relationship between cops and black youth/ people (firsthand) until my adult life.

[@matematiginparadoksu987]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpeohIWuoNOdnZo 👈 is about Covid19 👌

[@lalakuma9]

Wait... I didn't even know that there has only been 1 black mayor.

[@jashanestone]

In New York. Yes

[@melvina628]

Same.

[@Stfu9785]

NYC is racist

[@matematiginparadoksu987]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpeohIWuoNOdnZo 👈 is about Covid19 👌

[@dangelo1369]

@@orangegrainsniper5903 No, it’s not. There are elements of liberalism but generally it’s still surrounded by white working class enclaves. Remember the character “Archie Bunker” and Donald Trump both came from Queens. It’s also why the NY Post and FOX News are headquartered in NYC.

[@josiahjrich]

“Mr. Dinkins would you please be my mayor? You’d be doing us a really big favor.”

[@victormalyar9200]

If u like Dinkins then u are a knee jerk liberal with perhaps all heart and no brain. I knew a gentleman who worked as a poll worker for the Brooklyn Board of Elections and he told me if he(Dinkins) becomes the mayor one more time this whole city will be destroyed.

[@trailblazer3889]

@@victormalyar9200 so your opinion is other's opinion. Anyways who cares about your opinions. Btw this mayor has a sense of decency which is rare.

[@larsandtheworld]

@@victormalyar9200 Bruv, it's a feking song lyric by De La Soul. Shut your trap and go look for a fight somewhere else

[@Thedarkknight2244]

I finally have proper context to this line.

[@LiverpoolFan74]

@@larsandtheworld Actually, it is A Tribe Called Quest, but, an "A" for effort!!

[@MrHaydnSir]

i come back to this about once a month, many of the points made speak volumes even to this day 💛 ✌️

[@michaelb7131]

1013 “in this country we don’t have coups and revolutions.” Unfortunately that was before Donald Trump came along. RIP David Dinkins

[@joecap2919]

Before Snowflakes couldn't accept the 2016 election.

[@rationaldialog2987]

@krinkov545 So you think Jesus would be conservative?

[@rationaldialog2987]

@@joecap2919 Does it matter if not everyone is happy with the election results? I mean do you accept the results of the 2020 election?

[@contactkeithstack]

@@rationaldialog2987 probably depends, how many, and how not happy they are?

[@sunnylilme]

His concession speech was classy, selfless, for the greater Good. Since trump, normal, ethical behavior seems great

[@nilsp9426]

Electing Guiliani because of racial tensions is like electing El Chapo because of drug problems. You got the guy, but in the wrong position.

[@MrHaydnSir]

may he rest in peace 💛 ✌️

[@StyleNina]

“2 weeks of the US Open generates more revenue than the Yankees, Mets, Knicks AND rangers combined” 🤯

[@lizzybennett2590]

So THIS is how GHOULiani got in as mayor....

[@matematiginparadoksu987]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpeohIWuoNOdnZo 👈 is about Covid19 👌

[@lizzybennett2590]

@Regicide Better to "do nothing" than to aid and abet an insurrectionist.

[@qolspony]

David Dinkins was all about keeping the Faith, which he found was non existent. He would be the first candidate that I voted for. I had just turned 18. I'm now 50.

[@versatileduplicity9313]

Amazing how nyc is the exactly the same as 30 years ago

[@robroy6374]

false. i bet if it was the 80s you wouldnt be saying that nonsense. 🙄

[@WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1]

Regarding Crown Heights, I would say hot heads on both sides were to blame more than the Mayor

[@tallsmile28]

R.I.P. David Dinkins My Mayor

[@WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1]

RIP Mr Mayor Your record was mixed but you tried. Respect from the UK.

[@slapshot68]

Something Deblasio couldn’t do

[@im415again]

I’ve decided as a NY resolution I’m going to be more positive and troll YT less. I guess I only do it because of the irony in it all. People are suffering. We need more positivity so in 2021 expect a less sarcastic me who’s trying to spread a bit more hope. I don’t hate people. I’m sad to see so many talented rappers die. I’m sad some are less fortunate than others. I really wish I could help people more so if this is my way then so be it. 2021 though cause we still gotta get through 2020 and it still sucks.

[@odignifiedtrash]

thanks for the positivity! it’s appreciated!!

[@jason4275]

He was the people Mayor, not just the Mayor of the people who voted for him, or black people.

[@cross75man75]

@krinkov545 which one of his goulag where you in?

[@sadgodzilla9687]

8:53 anyone have a longer clip of that song

[@MariAlistineMoss]

A beautiful beautiful spirit. May his legacy ever live and ever endure.

[@JasonBryantGreen]

All these decades later and it seems like nothing has changed. Homelessness, crack heads, and panhandlers are still all over the place including the train. For a state that is supposedly so wealthy where does the money go?

[@KleWdSide]

Was Dinkins a better mayor than De Blasio?

[@vladinator8254]

That’s like comparing a dog turd to a stapler

[@lamaripiazza5226]

Yes

[@slapshot68]

That’s like comparing Adam Gase to Rich Kotite

[@themh135_gaming3]

Rip

[@brakerbraker829]

Tough to bring parties together when not everyone wants to see that happen.🤔

[@mistervacation23]

Why can't you be more like Lloyd Braun?

[@badhabit_snapoutofit]

“In this country we don’t have coups and revolutions, we have elections.”

[@memorandom7484]

Thanks, Kramer.

[@vanessawinchester9676]

Mr Diamond, I am a big fan of your music. A year ago I began having occurrences of tapping into the Akashic Records. I have become VERY AWARE of truths good and bad. Some truths so unimaginable, that all one can do is accept and know that by finally seeing, finally awakening, finally knowing of a truth so dark, that there is power. A power to overcome, a power to choose ones path, a power to stand up and fight for what one believes and knows to be who they are. I will never never turn a blind eye, I will never conform to what others tell me I should be or who I am. I will always follow my path, my desire, my love, my bliss. Now I don't know who you are truly loyal to, where your heart is, what you find important in your world. What I do know is what matters to me, who I am and what I will defend, even with my life, and that is freedom, the Constitution, America, compassion, love, purity, innocence, children and their safety and nurturing, protecting their innocence. I will die standing up for what I believe in and protecting those most vulnerable and innocent of humanity! Like I said, I don't where you stand in all that I have spoken about but in your music I have found strength and hope for the vision I hold! I am the expansion of consciousness, I am the expansion of life, I am evolution of all living things...therefore I AM! One by one we awaken, collectively we prevail, we are the light, we are one!

[@K-FOREST_Original]

Hi, how are you? - South Korea began to get cold after heavy rain last week. I hope health and good things will be with you this week as well. ^O^

[@TheBlaise91]

Mr. Dinkins, would you please be my mayor?

[@versatileduplicity9313]

And 30 years later, we get adams. Adams better be better than deblasio man.

[@felixndayisdebologne9725]

So long Sir, you will be remember as a mensch

[@agyepongboateng9552]

NYC didn't deserve him. RIP to the man, the legend.

[@AbduleeFtw]

The only man I ever cared about as a Mayor. Now NYC is just filled with stupid mayors

[@protom0rphic]

🚑

[@cloudo75]

He will be greatly missed.

[@tangoz811]

I was in born in 1990

[@importantname]

impossible to please all the people all the time,

[@jdmmg4904]

💟💟

[@smimtiaz4556]

👍

[@Thethreevlogs234]

He did the best he could

[@SkepticalMantisCHANNEL10]

The bar is very low. I don't think Dinkins achieved much positive change. Decades later we're still dealing with many of the same problems. We still have mass poverty, failing schools, institutional racism, and widespread police brutality...

[@myopinions1]

Vote Curtis Silwa!

[@kasimsultonfan]

Good and decent man. At sea as a mayor.

[@myopinions1]

He withheld police protection which is documented in the court case they won.

[@hcn6708]

Imagine doing all of that before having someone who led racist cops against you take credit for all your popular work

[@julieslifeoflove7549]

Omg... he’s gone?!?

[@jamesmacinnes8397]

Crazy how Rudy Giuliani has become such a sad shadow of who he was before.

[@laetrille]

Rest in peace

[@ddavis4730]

RIP David Dinkins

[@robertchandler2124]

One & only Black Mayor. Which is why NYers should question the death of the first Islamic Black Female Judge. Black Women don’t go running AND go swimming on the same day in the Hudson River. Ijs. #TheMoreWeKnow

[@muhammadabdullaahrahmaan9825]

THE REAL KING OF NEWYORK.

[@versatileduplicity9313]

7:49 glad you got what you deserved !! y’all ain’t an innocent group !!!

[@Abraham_Tsfaye]

Koch ruined NYC but Dinkins helped to stabilize it before Bloomberg turned it into the gigantic Disneyland it is today. Rest In Pace Mayor Dinkins.

[@juliapaiva2372]

I just wanted to say one thing, South America, Central America and North America is called >> America

[@yehudacohen9913]

He seemed like a good mayor except for the crown heights debacle.

[@Abraham_Tsfaye]

Koch ruined NYC but Dinkins helped to stabilize it before Bloomberg turned it into the gigantic Disneyland it is today. Rest In Pace Mayor Dinkins.

[@qolspony]

Crown Heights wasn't his doing. But somebody got to blame someone else for what happened. And since he was the leader of the city at the time, I understand.

[@createra7170]

Ha ha

[@createra7170]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/j2PUkpRmnJWofa8

[@user-co4wb8kq3q]

puremuscle.bandcamp.com/album/demonstration Pure Maskl vs Paschalis Kamora www.cityofmonrovia.org/

[@myopinions1]

Epitomizes evil. He lead his community to a pogrom.

[@Hermes_Agoraeus]

8:45 - Pogrom? Good thing America no longer falls for this kind of race-baiting.

[@Qdub34]

Rudy showed us who he was way back then and still got elected.

[@jashanestone]

He even lied stating he was there.. Never changed.. Only as a crossdresser.. people forgot that about Giuliani 😂😂😂

[@anthonyfrias5533]

I don't think he was a good mayor.

[@tfbama68]

Who is "Russell J Gould" & what power does he weild as being "The Post Master General" ? Does he have final say?

[@mastervz4806]

This just makes Trump look even worse.

[@user-ok1jo8st1x]

**(台灣國家 VS 中國國家)** 2300萬台灣人 vs 14億中國人 台灣民族 vs 中華民族 台灣繁體文字 vs 中共簡體字 台灣文化 vs 共產文化

[@MrHaydnSir]

some truly interesting words there at the end, about the absurdity of demanding a recount

[@youngblisslife4308]

Thank God he didn't get reelected. He did not need 9/11 on him especially being the first and only black mayor. He would have received all the blame

[@bklyn11217]

You got your time frames wrong

[@youngblisslife4308]

@@bklyn11217 well, not necessarily. It depends on the amount of terms one can serve and I don't. My point is, good thing he wasn't around for this to be on his hands. He would have dealt with more scrutiny than a white mayor.

[@bklyn11217]

@@youngblisslife4308 at that time, only two, but yes, I think he would have received more scrutiny. He took over the city at one of its lowest points and left it better. He was one of NYC's better mayors.

[@talljohn5350]

He lived to see the day where he was no longer considered the worst mayor in NYC history. 😢

[@Madbandit77]

If that's supposed to be a joke, it's not funny, considering the environment and position he was in.

[@JaySmooth]

He was only ever seen that way by misguided souls

[@qolspony]

There is something I wanted to get off my chest about former Mayor David Dinkins, but I just wasn't in the right mind. But here it is. David Dinkins was safe for the white establishment and they needed him at the time to quall racial tensions. And he has always made it clear that he wasn't a Mayor for black people, even though it was black people voting percentages who put him in office. So when he fail to resonate with the people who needed him the most, they were not fully there for his second reelection bid. So, when I hear him said people should look back at 1989, he is missing the reason why he was elected. He is pretty typical of black elected officials across the country. Their allegiance is always the system, before the people. But Dinkins made it adamantly clear that he was not a black Mayor. And this hurt him immensely! This isolated him from his constituents. And made me personally feel what is the point of voting for anyone. People vote for a candidate, because they want some to feel connected to. It is an engagement a suspicition and a way to feel whole. I personally voted for David Dinkins, so he could help to bring black people together. See, black people were at there lowest point of existence. All they needed was someone who can boost their spirit to start building, loving and appreciating each other. However, his focus has always been to make whites more compassionate about Blacks. Although, that sounds good on paper, it does not address the years of abuse that whites have done to black people. Of course I'm talking about Slavery, Lynchings and Jim crow. But more importantly, the psychological abuses that go on a daily basis that contribute to unsavory behavior. And the continue systematic racism that continues to this day. So I conclude this by saying, is although he will always be recognized as our first NYC black Mayor, for me, he will always remind me of someone who was on the other side. Sorry, if you disagree with me, but this is how I feel as a Black African Male, born in Harlem/Washington Heights in 1970. Good day EVERYBODY.

[@SexyUndisputed2All]

Not here to disparage the dead but he was a horrible mayor, crime was so high these rich hipsters who are praising him would be the first ones bashing him if they lived in nyc during his term. Person wise he might be a Saint but his term was horrible

[@error.418]

But was that because of him, or a product of the time? It's easy to pin it all on him, but was hit caused by him or was there a lack of improvement from him? This video makes it seem like NYC was already in turmoil, and his work was improving that situation. Was that not the case? According to what information?

[@acetate909]

@@error.418 Yes, it was him. It's funny how people will easily blame conservative leaders for the bad things that happen under their administration yet they give liberals a pass for some reason. If these people ever come to the realization that both parties are corrupted garbage they may start to see the world as it is and not how the idealize it.

[@Madbandit77]

@@acetate909 So what's the real solution? Anarchy?

[@acetate909]

@@Madbandit77 One solution to the duopoly is having more political parties that are facilitated by rank choice voting. Another prescription would be getting corporate money of the campaign process wich will allow candidates to enter office without collecting IOUs from major donors. I'm not implying this will be easy or even possible, but we need to be realistic about our two party system and stop giving these people passes for their participation and support of legalized corruption.

[@JaySmooth]

He was the one who started the drop in crime that Giuliani gets all the credit for

[@johnsmith-qe2fd]

Who?

[@ccie4101]

2nd worst mayor of New York City.

[@lamaripiazza5226]

How?

[@jm4963]

I wonder what happens when he goes before the G-d of Israel.

[@btuesday]

Dinkins was the worst thing that ever happened to New York

[@lamaripiazza5226]

How?

[@firefightergoggie]

David Dinkins: "I will be the absolute worst mayor New York has ever seen. I'll be a complete and total failure." Dill De Blasio: " hold my beer"

[@ianhomerpura8937]

How about Giuliani?

[@ChandraNYC]

@@ianhomerpura8937 He was (and IS) AWFUL!!!

[@lalhruaitluanga7461]

Nahhh!! Didn't like him.. Never will if you know the real him

[@error.418]

Do you have any actual reasons?

[@lalhruaitluanga7461]

He may serve. But you don't know the human in him so....

[@lalhruaitluanga7461]

@chris green Why would i hate someone because of their colour

[@lalhruaitluanga7461]

@chris green if i dont like a single black man, does that make me a racist?? I don't like many white man too

[@JK-gu3tl]

The problem with NYC is it's too big. Annexing Brooklyn was a mistake.

[@robroy6374]

Wrong. It was for the best.

[@lexijs]

he literally ruined new york 💀

[@jackzotter903]

Why would you title the video like this if not to sow racial divides in our country? Like why?

[@GQ2593]

Total nobody.

[@Madbandit77]

Like yourself....🙄

[@rosesprouts]

he literally made history, but i’m sure you’ve accomplished something even larger, Christian. maybe tone down your subtle racism

[@victormalyar9200]

Dinkins was a complete fool, he said instead of arresting teens the cops should tell them not to commit crime and even Ed Koch thought he was crazy for saying this.

[@Madbandit77]

@krinkov545 Sure, Karen. Sure. Make love to yourself with that inane thought.

[@vitstwo7623]

​@@rosesprouts i don't think it's racist. Why exactly do you think it is?