Bloomberg to do interview with Al Sharpton

[left-of-center2012]

Democratic presidential hopeful Mike Bloomberg is slated to do an interview with civil rights icon the Rev. Al Sharpton on Sunday amid scrutiny of the former New York City mayor's past support for "stop and frisk."

Bloomberg's interview will air at 5 p.m. Sunday on Sharpton’s “Politics Nation” program on MSNBC.

The former mayor has faced a wave of criticism recently after resurfaced comments showed him defending the stop-and-frisk police practice, which studies have shown was ineffective in reducing crime and overwhelmingly targeted men of color.

Bloomberg has apologized for his past support for the law enforcement practice and repeated his mea culpa earlier this month.

“By the time I left office, I cut it back by 95%, but I should've done it faster and sooner," he said in a statement. "I regret that and I have apologized — and I have taken responsibility for taking too long to understand the impact it had on Black and Latino communities."

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/484155-bloomberg-to-do-interview-with-al-sharpton

[highplainsdem]

1. Good.

[ancianita]

2. Rev. Al endorsed Bloomberg yesterday on MSNBC, and sounded gung ho.

It's disappointing because Sharpton was always critical of stop and frisk and other law enforcement double standards toward PoC in New York.

I don't see anymore how Sharpton represents PoC's interests.

[Hoyt]

3. Don't think Sharpton endorsed Bloomberg. He did say MB is not only

Democrat with racial baggage.

I’ve seen a number of Black leaders endorse Bloomberg, essentially saying you have to look at total picture.

[ancianita]

6. Fair enough. I've looked at my black friends', Shaun King's, Stacy Abrams', and all our PoC

Democratic leaders' picture. A black friend of mine who owns a big, successful club in New Orleans is in no way backing Bloomberg.

And the fact that I've watched Sharpton's show the whole time it was on -- with its various black guests and experts, along with an amplification of his p.o.v. -- still leads me to think he's the one who might not be looking at the total picture these days.

I remain disappointed in Sharpton's support of Bloomberg. I think he's been taken in by Mike's money and ad hype.

[Hoyt]

7. Bloomberg has some good endorsements from Black Congressional members and mayors.

[ancianita]

9. One from GA, one from NY, and one from the Virgin Islands territory-tax haven, for

what they are worth to a non-monolithic black population, swayed by black female voters, in the other 48 states.

Not resoundingly representative in the least.

DC's mayor and 99 other mayors is significant, though.

[jmg257]

5. Another reason not to support him.

[lynintenn]

8. I went to a Bloomberg GOTV bus tour this week. Almost all there were POC

and that was in rural Tennessee. A lot of the AA's in my county party moved from Biden to Bloomberg. They saw Biden faltering and they were smart enough to figure out Bernie can't win against Trump.

[Baked Potato]

10. Getting that "I'm not prejudice" interview out of the way quick

It should be interesting to see how his apologies come off.