Michael Bloomberg Pushed 'Stop-and-Frisk' Policing. Now He's Apologizing.

[Eugene]

Also:
• 'People aren't stupid': de Blasio slams Bloomberg's 'stop-and-frisk' apology (USA Today)
• Apologizing for stop-and-frisk is only a first step if Bloomberg wants to win black voters (Washington Post)


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Source: New York Times

Michael Bloomberg Pushed ‘Stop-and-Frisk’ Policing. Now He’s Apologizing.

Ahead of a possible Democratic run for president, the former mayor of New York City reversed himself before an important party constituency: black voters.

By Shane Goldmacher
Nov. 17, 2019

Ahead of a potential Democratic presidential run, former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York on Sunday reversed his longstanding support of the aggressive “stop-and-frisk” policing strategy that he pursued for a decade and that led to the disproportionate stopping of black and Latino people across the city.

“I was wrong,” Mr. Bloomberg declared. “And I am sorry.”

The speech, Mr. Bloomberg’s first since he re-emerged as a possible presidential candidate, was a remarkable concession by a 77-year-old billionaire not known for self-doubt: that a pillar of his 12-year mayoralty was a mistake that he now regrets. It was also, in some ways, a last word on an era of aggressive policing in New York City that began a generation ago under former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani — though the fallout on neighborhoods is still felt to this day.

Speaking before the congregation at the Christian Cultural Center, a black megachurch in Brooklyn, Mr. Bloomberg delivered his apology in the heart of one of the communities most affected by his policing policies, and at a location that nodded to the fact that should he decide to run for president, African-American voters would be a crucial Democratic constituency that he would need to win over.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/17/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-speech.html

[Kurt V.]

1. good move but probably won't move the meter.

[Dem4Life1102]

2. Too little, too late

I wonder when he is going to apologize for illegally detaining protesters during the 2004 GOP convention. Or for raising taxes on middle class homeowners while he gave himself a tax cut.

[redqueen]

3. An apology that's given only once you need something

is not an apology.

[zentrum]

4. Actually he sounded sociopathic in

...the sense that he said it took him a long time to admit to himself how damaging it was. Something like that. Cagey words but a "tell" about lack of immediately available empathy.

It was a real dog-whistle, hideously racist policy.

He's had years to apologize.

He ruined many young lives because people couldn't bounce back, keep their jobs, etc.

Big glossy Phony.

[Kind of Blue]

5. He's unbelievable after chastising O'Rourke and Biden for apologizing, as well

as repeatedly defending his unconstitutional policy all yearlong.

“It’s just not going to happen on a national level for somebody like me, starting where I am, unless I was willing to change all my views and go on what CNN called ‘an apology tour,’” he said, referencing some of his would-be opponents. “Joe Biden went out and apologized for being male, over 50, white. He apologized for the one piece of legislation which is actually a pretty good anti-crime bill, which if the liberals ever read it, most of the things they like is in that bill,” he said. “They should have loved that. But they didn’t even bother to read it.

The trend, he added, is not confined to Biden. “Beto, whatever his name is, he’s apologized for being born,” Bloomberg said to laughter from the audience. “I mean, I don’t mean to be unkind..."

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/03/why-michael-bloomberg-decided-not-to-run-for-president