During Wednesday’s Democratic presidential debate, former vice president Joe Biden accused former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg of unleashing his controversial stop-and-frisk tactic on over five million black men.
That’s a staggering number. It’s also true.
We're only a couple of minutes into the debate and Biden also has brought up Bloomberg's policy on stop and frisk, which he says throwing close to 5 million young black men up against a wall."
— Megan Messerly (@meganmesserly) February 20, 2020
5 Million Men Really Were Subject to Stop-and-Frisk
Biden’s poll numbers have taken a considerable dip since Bloomberg entered the race, so it’s no surprise Joe went after Mike hard during the ninth Democrat presidential debate in Nevada.
“The mayor says he has a great record. The fact of the matter is, he has not managed his city very well,” Biden said. “He didn’t get a whole lot done; he had stop-and-frisk throwing close to five million young black men up against the wall.”
Biden’s number is correct. The Annenberg Public Policy Center recently noted that during the 12 years Bloomberg led NYC, from 2002 through 2013, there were nearly five million stop-and-frisk incidents. During Bloomberg’s reign, stop-and-frisks increased nearly 600 percent, reaching a peak in 2011 of more than 685,000 individuals.
Fact Check: Biden Accuses Bloomberg of Throwing 5 Million Black Men ‘Up Against the Wall’?? https://t.co/vCwOhfqqH6
— Patricia Dickson (@Patrici15767099) February 20, 2020
The overwhelming majority of the stop-and-frisk stops were carried out on young men between the ages of 15 and 25.
‘Mini’ Mike Has Admitted This
Bloomberg has even admitted this.
“It’s controversial, but … 95 percent of your murders, and murderers, and murder victims fit one [description],” Bloomberg said in audio from 2015 that recently resurfaced. “You can just take the description, Xerox it, and pass it out to all of the cops.”
“They are male, minorities, 15 to 25,” Bloomberg continued. “That’s true in New York. It’s true in virtually every city in America.”
Needless to say, Bloomberg’s record is not only unpopular with the progressives in his party, it is certainly unpopular with African Americans who are an integral part of the Democratic coalition.
Did y’all see Bloomberg’s face when Biden said his policies had them throwing 5 million Black men against the wall? #DemocraticDebate
— Rashida. (@rashidapowell) February 20, 2020
Biden says Bloomberg had a policy in NY that threw “5 million black men up against a wall.” #stopandfrisk #DemDebate
— T.J. Holmes (@tjholmes) February 20, 2020
How Would a President Trump vs. Nominee Bloomberg Election Play Out?
At a time when President Trump is stepping up his pitch to black voters, something he spent a lot of time on during his recent State of the Union address, could a nominee Bloomberg have a unique handicap among the current Democrats running?
Remember, Trump already received more of the black vote in 2016 than Mitt Romney did in 2012.
Most black voters in this election will undoubtedly vote Democrat, but how many do vote Republican will also depend on who Democrats choose as their presidential pick.
And that choice could potentially see Donald Trump’s support with black Americans rise even higher than his last go ’round!