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De Blasio draws upon his family to console NYC

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, surrounded by community leaders, speaks to reporters about the grand jury's decision in the Eric Garner case in the borough of Staten Island in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014. A grand jury cleared the white New York City police officer Wednesday in the videotaped chokehold death of Garner, an unarmed black man, who had been stopped on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, a lawyer for the victim's family said. A video shot by an onlooker and widely viewed on the Internet showed the 43-year-old Garner telling a group of police officers to leave him alone as they tried to arrest him. The city medical examiner ruled Garner's death a homicide and found that a chokehold contributed to it. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, surrounded by community leaders, speaks to reporters about the grand jury's decision in the Eric Garner case in the borough of Staten Island in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014. A grand jury cleared the white New York City police officer Wednesday in the videotaped chokehold death of Garner, an unarmed black man, who had been stopped on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, a lawyer for the victim's family said. A video shot by an onlooker and widely viewed on the Internet showed the 43-year-old Garner telling a group of police officers to leave him alone as they tried to arrest him. The city medical examiner ruled Garner's death a homicide and found that a chokehold contributed to it. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, surrounded by community leaders, speaks to reporters about the grand jury's decision in the Eric Garner case in the borough of Staten Island in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014. A grand jury cleared the white New York City police officer Wednesday in the videotaped chokehold death of Garner, an unarmed black man, who had been stopped on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, a lawyer for the victim's family said. A video shot by an onlooker and widely viewed on the Internet showed the 43-year-old Garner telling a group of police officers to leave him alone as they tried to arrest him. The city medical examiner ruled Garner's death a homicide and found that a chokehold contributed to it. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

By Associated Press 1 min read

NEW YORK (AP) – He is a white man with a black son. And he is a mayor who pledged to mend relations between the nation’s largest police force and the communities of color who feel mistreated by the NYPD.

Bill de Blasio on Wednesday drew upon his personal experiences to connect with New Yorkers upset with a grand jury’s decision not to indict a white police officer in the chokehold death of a black Staten Island man.

He said how he had to warn his son about the police. And he agreed when President Obama recently called the death of Eric Garner a “personal” crisis.

Pundits say de Blasio’s background – and his efforts to help minorities who feel wronged by police – make him uniquely suited to manage this crisis.