The former New York mayor has apologized for his longstanding support for the controversial “Stop and Frisk” police crackdown. But Michael Bloomberg also earned skepticism for this.
In the midst of preparations for a possible presidential candidacy, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has admitted mistakes in his tenure at the time. During a speech in New York on Sunday, the Democrat apologized for the “stop and frisk” tactic that he introduced and later classified as unconstitutional, in which police officers can arbitrarily control and search people. “Far too many innocent people were stopped,” the majority of them black and Latinos, said the 77-year-old in front of a mainly Afro-American congregation in Brooklyn, New York. Members of this community may also have been affected, he said.
Bloomberg admitted that these controls were rolled back too late. “I was wrong. And I’m sorry,” he said. “I made mistakes.” However, he has never met anyone who has not made a mistake. “The bottom line is whether you can admit it.”
Is the appearance a campaign tactic?
Bloomberg’s appearance was interpreted as a gesture of reconciliation to blacks and Latinos – important groups of Democrats whose support he would need if he were to run for president. Officially, Bloomberg has not yet entered his party’s race. However, he has already made concrete preparations for this, for example by submitting the necessary documents for a possible participation in the primaries in the US state of Alabama.
Bloomberg, who once founded the financial and media company named after him, is considered one of the richest men in the world. It could raise significant funding in an election campaign against President Donald Trump, who will run for Republicans again in the 2020 election.
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