Last week, Mayor Rudy Giuliani scheduled meetings with many of the people who have been . . . well, political thorns would be an overstatement since you can't really ignore a thorn, unless of course you are "insensitive," and then you won't feel them . . . so I guess thorn would be the right term.
Anyway, these meetings come in the wake of Hizzoner's promise to break down "barriers" in the city. He didn't say he was talking about people of color, but anyone who heard his Senate withdrawal speech knew who he was talking about. Yet, he said to call him a "new Rudy" would not be appropriate. So what is it going to be and what might that mean for us?

Without the benefit of mind reading capabilities, I'm not really sure If even he knows what that could mean and how he might accomplish that mission.

After six years of non-conciliatory, no-retreat no-surrender politics, he says he hopes the last 18 months of his mayoralty will somehow bite into the legacy he has created.

At first you think Naaaa, no way, not possible. The walls are too high, the river between us too wide, the wounds too deep.
But I say it is possible - just not probable - that such a feat will be accomplished to most of our satisfactions.

As somewhat of a realist, I know that a Rudy/Sharpton summit has the same prospects of a Ewing led, NY Knicks championship team.

But it is not beyond real expectations that he meet with others in our community, not only to talk about real peace, but also about real justice.

One thing that has perplexed me over the years is how non-people-of-color decide for themselves (and they think for us) who the "legitimate" leaders of our communities are . . . like that silly summit Howard Safir had with an African group, after the shooting death of Amadou Diallo.

The most widely recognized gesture of peace - the handshake - came from war. Enemy Lords, who were negotiating truces, reached out to check the other man's sleeve for weapons. The hands slid down from bicep, to elbow, to forearm, to wrist and then finally the hand. Then two enemies could at least sit without the immediate threat of attack. But before that could happen a man would put himself at considerable risk if there was a weapon up a sleeve.

In order to sit at the table of peace with our communities, Rudy Giuliani will have to go through that same process politically.
Healing the wounds will mean some exposure and some risk. The same kind of risk many men of power have taken for centuries.
An example of that which comes to mind is the risk P. W. Botha took in the final years of Apartheid. I am not comparing the six years of New York under Giuliani to South Africa. I think that would be a stretch, even though I know many people who might feel differently.

Many of us enjoy the benefits of lower crime and jobs created by an industry-friendly tax policy over the last few years. Whether a result of national trends or not, Giuliani has been the guy in charge during it all. Certainly if things went the other way, we would have blamed him.

We have not,however, appreciated the discounting of our fears and outrage, regarding a variety of issues during that time, including how we've been treated by some police officers and by city hall.
The list is longer than that for many of you, I'm sure.
But facing the bottom line of the things the mayor will have to overcome in our minds will require an act or acts of bravery.
It is my belief that in order to accomplish the kind of bridge building worthy of this city, it will require not only talking to some unlikely people but committing to some unlikely acts.

Invariably, the statistics will show crime back on the rise in our city, since many of the people who were swept up in the NYPD numbers crunch are back with us.

As two- or three-time losers, the likelihood of them robbing, stealing, raping and killing is high. I'm sure some history pundits will say that any softening of Rudy was connected to this spike in crime, and is therefore a bad idea.

I believe and hope beyond hope that a united, pro-active New York will not be a place where crime can prosper.

If we don't fear the police as much as the criminals, we can work together in making life for them miserable.

If that is a far away goal to reach for us as a city, the journey can begin with small steps or large ones.

How long will your strides be, Mr. Mayor?

- Gary Anthony Ramsay is a weekend anchor and journalist on the all-news cable station NY 1 and a long time resident of Queens.