Adams turns to Black church as his saving grace after indictments

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With additional reporting by TANDY LAU, Amsterdam News StaffReport for America

Eric Adams has often declared that he was ordained by God to be mayor of New York City, an assertion that has opened him up to praise and condemnation alike. He carried that message all the way into Gracie Mansion with support from the city’s Black churches and clergy. In the recent days since his federal indictment, the mayor has surrounded himself with the cloak of “the Black Church” and his faith—a decision not everyone agrees with.

Historically, much of the Black political power that civil rights figures amassed came from the men and women in the church, the mosque, and the synagogue. Plenty of Black electeds, like Georgia’s U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who also holds a title as reverend, continue to lead by faith and policy.

Adams’s mentor and longtime friend, Reverend Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network (NAN), is perhaps one of his biggest supporters. Sharpton has urged Gov. Kathy Hochul to not forcibly remove Adams from office, a gubernatorial power that hasn’t been flexed since 1932 in New York.

Adams held a press conference at Gracie Mansion on Wednesday, Sept. 25, with several Black clergy members a day after becoming the first sitting NYC mayor to be indicted on federal criminal charges. The indictment ramped up a months-long Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation into his administration and other city agencies for bribery and campaign finance fraud.

RELATED: Former AM Michael Blake floats mayoral bid amid Adams controversy

Speakers included New York State National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) President Dr. Hazel N. Dukes, Rev. Herbert Daughtry, Harlem Mothers Stop Another Violent End (S.A.V.E.) Jackie Rowe-Adams, Bishop Dr. Chantel R. Wright, Sheikh Musa Drammeh, and Bishop Gerald Seabrooks.

“I’ve known this young man for over 40 years,” Dukes said. “He’s going to have his day in court and we’re going to stand by him. We came this morning to pray for him because prayer changes things. I am asking all New Yorkers to hear his side, to let him have a day in court. Let him have his day in court and then we can make our decisions.”

Over the weekend, Adams attended a Greater Allen AME Cathedral of New York celebration for their new pastor, Reverend Stephen Green, in St. Albans, Queens. Adams spoke about memories of his mother in front of the congregation, but not necessarily the indictment or fighting the charges. He was wholly embraced by churchgoers.

Adams flat-out refuses to resign. He asserted again that he was being “targeted,” possibly denoting the image of a Black man of faith demonized by law enforcement or higher levels of the U.S. government, which has historically been the case for many Black civil rights leaders, such as Sharpton, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, aka Malcolm X.

Like Adams, Bronx Assemblymember Michael Blake, who founded and leads the Kairos: Democracy Project, sees nothing wrong with being an avid churchgoer while in politics. However, he said that it’s “unacceptable” that the city’s Black and Brown community does not have a functioning government and that for Adams to lean on the “Black Trump” claim that the investigation is a lie is “ridiculous.”

“I’m a Black man who’s worked at the highest levels of government, and I’ve never had the feds raid me,” said Blake in criticizing Adams’s claims that he’s being targeted.

Adams and the clergy were heckled mercilessly by attendees at last Thursday’s press conference. They also criticized Adams for playing the race card. “This is not a Black thing, this is not a Black thing; this is a you thing,” said one man, screaming at Adams. “Your policies are anti-Black. You’re a disgrace to all Black people in this city.”

Attorney Olayemi Olurin, one of Adams’s harshest critics, blasted him for “crying” about anti-Blackness when she confronted him over furthering “obviously racist and anti-Black policies.” When the two sparred verbally at the Breakfast Club earlier this year, Adams pushed back on criticism of expanding the city’s carceral system by arguing that Black mayors of major U.S. cities — like Karen Bass of Los Angeles, Brandon Johnson of Chicago, and himself — were being uniquely targeted.

“He weaponizes and uses [his Blackness] as a shield,” said Olurin over the phone. “It’s no different than…in him going and finding Black people to stand by him at his press conference or after my Breakfast Club interview, when he went…to Al Sharpton to baptize him at Rikers.

“I wouldn’t go as far as to put it on all Black politicians, but there is a certain danger when you get obviously anti-Black Black people, and give them the ability to weaponize their Blackness to hide from accountability.”

Not everyone in the Black interfaith community shares a harsh denouncement of Adams, though. A few pastors Amsterdam News reached out to said they were praying for him and the city at this point.

“I just pray for him that he’ll come out victoriously,” said Bronx Miracle Gospel Tabernacle Rev. Dr. Rabbi Keith Elijah Thompson. “When it comes to state and things, you cannot judge them just like that because of what transpires. He’s a man that clearly shows faith in God so the church prays for him, and you can’t go wrong with that. You look for spiritual advisement to make sure you’re on the right path. Whether he did it [or not]…when David was wrong, God forgave him.”

Thompson added that Adams was elected as a Black mayor by churchgoers who wanted to see him lead. For them, he can’t be called guilty until proven guilty.

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Waterman, who heads the African American Clergy and Elected Officials Organization (AACEO), said that he’s “just been praying for the city” as far as Adams goes. He said that generally speaking, “the Black Church” as a collective voting power has been “used and abused” in U.S. politics.

“During voting time, Black churches are used, but when it comes down to it, the resources for the Black community—it seems as though every other culture can come in on the back of civil rights and obtain the favor of government, but yet and still, those that came in handcuffed and chained [don’t],” Waterman said.

According to Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a statement, “The indictment of a sitting mayor is a serious and sober moment for New York City. Like every other New Yorker and American, Eric Adams is entitled to the presumption of innocence. That principle is central to the administration of justice in the U.S. A jury of the mayor’s peers will now evaluate the charges in the indictment and ultimately render a determination. In the meantime, I pray for the well-being of our great city.”

U.S. Attorney Damien Williams for the Southern District of New York discussed the charges in depth at a press conference on Sept. 26.

“Public office is a privilege,” Williams said. “We allege that Mayor Adams abused that privilege and broke the law — laws that are designed to ensure that officials like him serve the people, not the highest bidder, not a foreign bidder, and certainly not a foreign power. These are bright-red lines, and we allege the mayor crossed them again and again for years. That is the only reason we are here today.”

Williams added that, “Second, this investigation continues. We continue to dig, and we will hold more people accountable, and I encourage anyone with information to come forward and to do so before it is too late.

“Third, the Southern District of New York remains committed to rooting out corruption without fear or favor and without regard to partisan politics. We are not focused on the right or the left. We are focused only on right and wrong. That is our duty, and we will fulfill it.”

By Sept. 29, Adams urged a federal judge to dismiss the charges brought against him by “zealous prosecutors” that he said do not rise to the level of a federal crime. In addition to pleading not guilty, Adams’s attorney Alex Spiro filed a lawsuit, calling the charges “extraordinarily vague.”

“When you look at these faith leaders, they’re not political, they’re people,” said Adams at his press conference on Oct. 1. Compared to his usual press conference, the affair was somber and without introduction music or his usual entourage of deputy mayors. It was just Adams in the rotunda of City Hall, staring down a gaggle of reporters.

“I lean into my faith and I will continue to do so, and I don’t lean into my faith during hard times. I do it during all times,” he said. “I’ve been consistent throughout my entire career on the power of my belief and faith…those leaders know me, and they know I authentically care about the people of the city.”

Adams was back in court on Oct. 2, where prosecutors suggested potentially adding further charges to the embattled mayor.