Mayor Bill de Blasio gathered with religious leaders on Wednesday in a renewed attempt to ease tensions surrounding the death of a black Staten Island man in police custody, as he strives to show leadership on a controversy that has aggravated racial divisions ahead of a protest march this weekend.
The meeting, held at the residence of Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan next to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, was focused on an episode that has led police unions and liberal advocates alike to criticize City Hall’s response. But the participants acknowledged that the more recent strife in Ferguson, Mo., where violent protests have broken out after the shooting death of an unarmed black man by a white police officer, underscored just how differently New York City had managed the aftermath.
“When I flew back the other day, I thought about how different it was that we’re going to sit in the cardinal’s residence than what I saw in the streets of Ferguson,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who spoke at a news conference afterward on the plaza of the Palace Hotel.
Mr. de Blasio rarely mentioned Ferguson in his remarks on Wednesday, saying he preferred to focus on problems in New York. But the unrest in Missouri has been a potent counterpoint to critics who questioned the mayor’s cautious response to the death of Eric Garner, the Staten Island man, who died after being placed in a chokehold during a routine arrest.
Mr. de Blasio said he was confident that the march on Saturday, which is to be led by Mr. Sharpton, would be peaceful, and the police commissioner, William J. Bratton, pledged that officers monitoring the demonstration would be calm and professional.
Relatives of Michael Brown, 18, who was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, are expected to attend the rally with Mr. Sharpton, who is to speak at Mr. Brown’s funeral on Monday.
The mayor on Wednesday took pains to appear confident and commanding, speaking in a firm and sober voice as he introduced speakers from a podium. The formal staging — and cordial nature — of the event was a stark contrast from Mr. de Blasio’s first attempt at a healing session, a sit-down affair last month at City Hall where the mayor listened passively as Mr. Sharpton excoriated law enforcement with Mr. Bratton sitting inches away.
On Wednesday, Mr. Bratton and Mr. Sharpton stood on opposite sides of the stage, but they both spoke in warm terms about respect between the police and the community.
“We don’t have to agree on everything, but we don’t have to be disagreeable,” Mr. Sharpton told the police commissioner, adding at one point, “Most police are not bad.” Mr. Bratton invoked the old police motto — “to protect and to serve” — and suggested that a modern take would be “to protect and to respect.”
The phrase “broken windows” was not uttered once during the 45-minute news conference. That policing strategy — the pursuit of minor crimes to prevent bigger ones — has been at the center of the fallout from the Garner episode, and there are still questions over whether Mr. de Blasio will call for changes to it.
Yet criticism of Mr. de Blasio has subsided since he first announced plans on Aug. 8 for the roundtable with Cardinal Dolan, who is the archbishop of New York.
A day later, Mr. Brown was shot and killed. And the ensuing disturbances there gave the meeting on Wednesday in Manhattan a sharply different context: Both the police and protesters in New York, in the aftermath of Mr. Garner’s death, have looked peaceable by comparison.
The mayor, for his part, said he hoped Wednesday’s event would amount to “a transcendent moment for the city” and promised “a purposeful and consistent effort forward.” But he offered few details about what that effort might involve, besides suggesting that police officers visit churches and mosques to meet with residents.
The clerics surrounding the mayor represented Christianity, Islam and Judaism, but all were men. Mr. de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, who holds an unpaid post in her husband’s administration, was the only woman at the news conference.
Asked what role women might play in the administration’s effort to ease tensions, Ms. McCray said: “I don’t have a strategic plan yet, but I will have one. And I plan to make sure that women are represented in the deepest levels in the most effective way.”
As much as it called to mind the role of pastors in the civil rights movement, the event, with so many religious leaders, was also a reminder that Mr. de Blasio is not affiliated with a church, and has said he does not belong to an organized religion. But he said he and Ms. McCray thought it was best to enlist the clergy to help convey their message.
“I hope people don’t misunderstand what moves the vast majority of the people in this city,” Mr. de Blasio said. “In moments of crisis, there’s nothing more helpful than clergy members who already can know each other, and can support each other, know the police and can support a peaceful outcome.”
In keeping with the day’s theme, the mayor drew from the Old Testament in describing his goals for the meeting. “Come now,” he said, quoting a passage from Isaiah, “let us reason together.”