Politics
Bloomberg Under Fire For Defending Racial Disparities In Marijuana Arrests In Newly Resurfaced Recording
In a newly released recording, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg can be heard defending racial disparities in marijuana arrest rates by arguing that minority neighborhoods are “where all the crime is.”
The remarks, which Bloomberg made during an Aspen Institute speech in 2015, were shared on Twitter on Monday. The revelation has galvanized voters who argue that it reflects a racist mentality underlying controversial stop-and-frisk police tactics and mass incarceration.
After asserting that “95 percent” of murderers and murder victims are “are male minorities, 16 to 25,” Bloomberg said the response should be to “spend the money on a lot of cops in the streets, put those cops where the crime is, which means in minority neighborhoods.”
There is an “unintended consequence,” he said, which is that “people say, ‘oh my god, you are arresting kids for marijuana that are all minorities.’”
Share this far and wide. Unless the mainstream media picks it up, it will be isolated to twitter. pic.twitter.com/Fm0YCi4ZRy
— Benjamin Dixon (@BenjaminPDixon) February 11, 2020
But he made clear that the unintended consequence isn’t the fact that black individuals are primarily criminalized for cannabis offenses even though their white counterparts use marijuana at roughly the same rate. It’s the optics of that reality, he suggested.
“Yes, that’s true. Why? Because we put all the cops in minority neighborhoods,” the billionaire 2020 Democratic candidate said. “Yes, that’s true. Why do we do it? Because that’s where all the crime is.”
He also defended the use of stop-and-frisk policing by arguing that it’s an effective way to deter individuals from unlawfully carrying firearms. “The way you get the guns out of the kids’ hands is to throw them against the wall and frisk them,” he said.
Here’s how people are reacting on Twitter, where the hashtag #BloombergIsRacist started trending:
This 2015 speech by Michael Bloomberg, justifying his widespread stop-and-frisk police searches and marijuana busts of Black and Latinx New Yorkers, is appalling. It's also a complete distortion of criminal justice.
Racial profiling violates civil rights, and makes no one safer. https://t.co/oKcrTosed8
— Brianna Wu (@BriannaWu) February 11, 2020
Each year of Bloomberg's 12-year mayorship, at least 50% of the people arrested for marijuana were black.
And at least 85% were nonwhite each year, usually much higher. That's tens of thousands of people each year.
via https://t.co/0SHphUVmrK & https://t.co/0w8of8277A https://t.co/IhpAYO2Wzw
— Taniel (@Taniel) February 11, 2020
As mayor of NYC, #Bloomberg:
✅ increased use of stop & frisk
✅ fought closure of Rikers
✅ pushed for charter schools at expense of public schools
✅ implemented mandatory minimums for gun charges
✅ opposed legalization of marijuanaThanks but no thanks to him as POTUS. https://t.co/9Zdf4qiOqy
— Chelsea Merta ⚖️🔮✨ (@ChelseaKMerta) February 11, 2020
Bloomberg: Vote for me, I'm not as racist as Trump
Also Bloomberg:pic.twitter.com/IYz8gMh1Hh
— Jacob Taylor (@Taylor__Johnny) February 11, 2020
Mike Bloomberg is so full of shit.
There’s a whole lot of marijuana dealing, possession and smoking in majority white communities.
Including the one I grew up in in the 1990’s. https://t.co/oAqt4rBLlo
— Kassandra Seven (@KassandraSeven) February 11, 2020
Bloomberg released a statement responding to the controversy on Tuesday.
Though he didn’t directly respond to his remarks about crime being concentrated in minority communities or racial disparities in marijuana enforcement, he said said he “inherited the police practice of stop-and-frisk” and that it was “overused.”
I have apologized for taking too long to understand the impact of stop and frisk on Black and Latino communities.
I inherited stop and frisk. In an effort to stop gun violence, it was overused. I cut it back by 95%.
I should have cut it back sooner. https://t.co/nj2hBJcQP6
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) February 11, 2020
“By the time I left office, I cut it back by 95 percent, but I should’ve done it faster and sooner,” he said. “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.”
“But this issue and my comments about it do not reflect my commitment to criminal justice reform and racial equity,” he continued. “I believe we need to end mass incarceration and during my tenure we reduced incarceration by 40 percent and juvenile confinement by more than 60 percent.”
While Bloomberg apologized for promoting stop-and-frisk policing in the run-up to his presidential campaign announcement and has also evolved somewhat on cannabis issues by embracing simply decriminalization of possession, critics have questioned the authenticity of those positions, as it’s only been a few years since he held diametrically opposing views.
On marijuana reform in particular, it was just last year that he said legalizing marijuana is “perhaps the stupidest thing anybody has ever done”—a statement that he was recently pressed on by being asked whether he believes Colorado voters were stupid for approving legalization.
Bloomberg said he supports the right of states to enact cannabis programs, and he went on to say “what I really object to is putting people in jail for marijuana.”
“That’s really dumb,” he said of the cannabis criminalization policy he vociferously defended in the past.
Although he now backs modest reforms, Bloomberg—along with former Vice President Joe Biden—is one of only two Democratic presidential candidates in the race who do not support legalizing marijuana.
This story has been updated to include a statement from Bloomberg.
Governors Across U.S. Step Up Push To Legalize Marijuana In Their States
Photo courtesy of Center for American Progress/Ralph Alswang.
