And it wasn't helped Friday by some radio shock jocks who make a joke out of the recent spike in hate crimes.
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Andrew Yang, the former presidential candidate who is considered one of the frontrunners for the Democratic nomination, promptly called a news conference after the comments on "Bernie & Sid in the Morning."
"Making light of hate crimes against any group of New Yorkers is not something we should accept or condone," Yang said.
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On the show, the radio hosts ridiculed Yang and talked of a possible general election of Yang versus Guardian Angels founder and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa if both win primaries in late June.
"We got one big hate crime coming, and that's when Curtis Sliwa kicks Andrew Yang's ass," one of the hosts said.
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Yang did not take kindly to the reference.
"That's the kind of language we can't accept or promote here in New York City," he said. "There are people who have been victimized and beaten."
Another frontrunner, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, picked up endorsements from several elected city and state officials from Queens.
As a former policeman, he's focused on crime and how it's hurt mostly Black and brown communities. He's hoping for a big turnout from minority voters outside of Manhattan.
"I'm running for mayor because 65% of Black and brown children don't meet proficiency every year in the Department of Education," he said. "That's a betrayal. If you don't educate, you will incarcerate."
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NYC mayoral race: FDNY fire officers union endorses Eric Adams
But Congressman Greg Meeks recently endorsed former CitiBank executive Ray McGguire, who could divide the Black vote, especially in southeast Queens.
"If they want to talk about dividing the Black vote, if they want to talk about the fight for the Black vote, let them do all that," Adams said.
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Adams is positioning himself as the law and order candidate, right as New York City is increasingly violent. Last year was one of the bloodiest in a decade, during which shootings almost doubled and murders in the city shot up 44%. In jamaica queens, dev ewn." 12:24:42
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