Transcript for NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio: ‘It’s Different for a White Child. That’s Just the Reality’

Welcome to "This week." Your first appearance here. Thank you for joining us. What a difficult week here in New York City. And back in August you promised to ensure a fair and justified outcome in the garner case. Do you believe the grand jury's designates met that standard? George, I make a point not to talk about the judicial prosper Se. But fix it between the police and community. Why don't you? Because I think as an executive in the it is important to respect the judicial process. Respect the grand jury's decision. Respect the process. We have a series of things to do to change the dynamics in our city. We have to retain police forces in how to work with communities differently. Work on things like body cameras that will provide a different level of transparency and accountability. This is systemic and we have to talk about the historic racial dynamics that underly this. You respect the process, but not the decision. George, the point is we in public service who have an opportunity to change policies and approaches have to do that. This is not about one case, this is about something bigger that has to be addressed. Part of what I tried to say the night of the decision is that we have to have an honest conversation in this country about a history of racism. We have to have an honest conversation about the problem that's caused parents to feel their children may be in danger with their dynamics with police when police are there to protect them. We have to transcend that. And in this city, we have tried to begin that process with a series of policy changes that will reach people. For a lot of people, the beginning of the conversation and making sure justice is done in individual cases. As you know, as you've said, a lot of people don't believe that's been done here. So the civil rights case is going to proceed at the federal level. You support that? We are absolutely cooperating with the federal government. Do you believe there was a civil rights violence here. I'm not a lawyer. But more importantly, I respect that the federal government will have its own investigation. Nypd will have an investigation as well and come to its own judgment. But the individual cases, of course, they draw our feelings. They mean so much to people. We relate through them personally. But what we have to do is change the fundamental relationship between police and community. Our police keep us safe, and yet there's been, as I said, not just decades of problems, a history of centuries of racism that undergird this reality. We can transcend that. We believe in New York City, retraining the police force is going to make a huge difference. This is something our commissioner, bill Bratton, is fundamentally a believer in. Train the police in a different approach to use of force, and a different approach to communication with the community, and a difficult approach to building relationships with the community, you won't see these tragedies. You point out, police misconduct in New York City has gone down in recent years. You just said the statement our police keep us safe. But you drew a lot of response with your comments about your son, Dante, the other day, when you asked if he was safe each night not only from crime, but from the police. It drew sharp reaction from the head of the police unit. What we need is a mayor to stand up with and for us as well. What police officers felt yesterday after that press conference is that they were thrown under the bus. Throw the police under the bus? Of course not. I have immense respect for the men and women who protect us. What we're trying to do is make everyone safe in this equation. We're trying to protect all of our communities and protect the people who do this important work. To do that, we have to draw on police and community together. And you can't achieve that if you're not having a real conversation about what's happening. Of course people respond when they see a tragedy like this. They see it through their own eyes, through their own prism of their family. And we can't deny that and act like that isn't a reality. And we're seeing it -- Your son is at risk from your own police democratic? -- Department. Look. I want to say it the right way. There is so much misunderstanding here. What parents have done for decades who have children of color, especially young men of color, is train them to be very careful when they have a connection with a police officer. When they have an encounter with a police officer. It's different for a white child. It's just the reality in this country. And with Dante, very early on, with my son, we said, look, if a police officer stops you, do everything he tells you to do. Don't move suddenly, don't reach for your cell phone. We knew, sadly, there was a greater chance it might be misinterpreted if it was a young man of color. What we're striving towards is a day when every child is told equally, not only are the police are going to protect you, but they're going to assume that the young person is an innocent, law-abiding young person. That's not always the reality today. And it's something we have to overcome so we can draw police and community closer together. But look, in terms of response, I'm just saying what people are actually experiencing and have been for decades. I talked to a lot of families of color. Well before this comment. I've said things like this before. And they've said to me over and over again that they appreciate someone acknowledging that they have to have that conversation with their sons. It's a painful conversation. You can sense there's a contradiction in that conversation. We want to look up to figures of authority. And everyone knows the police protect us. But there's that fear there could be that one moment of misunderstanding with a young man of color and he may never come back. That's what parents -- One of your predecessors, mayor Rudy Giuliani, has been talking about what he says is another reality, black on black crime. Take a look. I think just as much if not more is on the black community to reduce the reason why the police officers are assigned in such large Numbers to the black community. It's because blacks commit murder eight times more per capita than any other group in our society. He says not recognizing that is racist, and comments like yours are tearing down the respect for the criminal justice system. I think he fundamentally misunderstands reality. We're trying to bring community and police together. There's a problem here. There's a rift here that has to be overcome. You cannot look at the incident in Missouri, another incident in Cleveland, Ohio, and New York City, all happening in the space of weeks and act like there's not a problem. There's something fundamental we have to get at here. And it's not going to be helped by accusing either the community or the police of having bad intention or not doing their job. In fact I think everyone is trying to do their job. Of course communities want to keep themselves safe. Of course parents want to teach their children to be law-abiding. Of course, police are protecting us. But there's a disconnect that has to be overcome. I think body cameras are a part of the solution. Accountability. I think retraining of police, show them how to de-escalate, use less-violent approaches. Work more closely with the community. These are the ways forward. But a lot of voices on both ends of the spectrum want to keep us mired in a history that's not worked for us. And I think in New York City, we have been visionary, there is another phase ahead. We can stay safe and draw police and community closer together. There's some place we have not yet been that we have to get to. And issues you have been raising about the democratic party. You wrote a piece saying that democrats need to grow a backbone. Yes. And you went on to say -- too many candidates lost sight of the core principles, opting to clip their Progressive wings in deference to a conventional wisdom that says bold ideas aren't politically practical. Off also called for a blueprint to revitalize the party. What is it? Talk about income inequality. Talk about the crisis that's the pervasive reality in American life right now. About a third of Americans today are living at or near the poverty level. Here in New York City, that's 46%, in fact, at or near the poverty level. The greatest income disparity in this country in a hundred years. That's what we're experiencing. In the 2014 cycle, democrats did not speak bluntly about it. They did not say honestly to the people of this country, here's a crisis and we're going toot very specific things about it. Be willing to take on those who are wealthy and ask them to do their fair share. Willing to take on cooperations not being fair to their workers. If the people of this country heard democrats enunciate a clear vision for economic fairness, you would have seen a very different result in 2014. A lot of of viewers may not know you were once Hillary

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.