Say No
to Bloomberg
By
Margaret Kimberley
December 01, 2019 "Information
Clearing House"
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Bloomberg says he wants to stop Donald Trump but
he’s really running to stop Bernie Sanders.
“Bloomberg
targeted black people for political gain with
whites and he created great suffering in the
process.”
In 2002
Michael Bloomberg was sworn in as mayor of New
York City. In that same year the men known as
the Central Park Five had their sentences
vacated. They all served between 6 and 13 years
in prison for a rape they did not commit. They
sued New York City for the wrongful convictions
but the Bloomberg administration refused to pay.
They had to wait until he left office in 2014 to
receive their $40 million settlement.
Michael
Bloomberg recently announced that he will seek
the Democratic Party nomination for president in
2020. Unlike late comers such as Deval Patrick
he actually has a chance to win the nomination
or to play a role in choosing someone else. His
weapon is not in any of his policy provisions
but in his bank account. Bloomberg has an
estimated net worth of $55 billion, a figure
which makes him among the richest people on the
planet. Like the old joke about the 900 pound
gorilla he can do whatever he wants, including
prevent a progressive from getting the
nomination.
Bloomberg says he is “Running for president to
stop Donald Trump and rebuild America.” In
reality he is running to stop Bernie Sanders
because he knows that given a level playing
field Sanders would emerge triumphant.
Bloomberg’s strategy is to skip the early states
and focus on Super Tuesday in March. This plan
is a sign that he is more interested in being a
spoiler than in actually being president
himself.
“His
weapon is not in any of his policy provisions
but in his bank account.”
Bloomberg’s impact on New York will be felt for
years to come. He described New York as “a
luxury product” and he acted accordingly by
accelerating the displacement of black people
through gentrification. In order to make sure
that black New Yorkers got the memo and quickly
left town he instituted the notorious stop and
frisk police program.
At the
height of stop and frisk terrorism nearly
700,000 people, nearly all of them black and
Latino, were stopped without probable cause.
Men, women and even children were stopped, and
sometimes arrested. Arrest records can have a
lasting negative impact, especially on the lives
of black people. Any interaction with police, no
matter how minor the cause, carries a risk of
harm or even death.
Most
police departments have quotas for parking
tickets, but the NYPD had quotas for arrests
during the Bloomberg era. Individual cops risked
being reprimanded or penalized themselves if
they didn’t make arrests as often as possible.
This legacy of unleashing the modern day slave
patrol is enough reason to make Bloomberg
unacceptable as a presidential candidate.
“The NYPD
had quotas for arrests during the Bloomberg
era.”
Bloomberg never backed down from his position
while in office. He even said that white people
were stopped too often and black people not
enough. He has changed his tune of late and now
offers a disingenuous apology for the policy he
defended as mayor.
|
Are You Tired Of
The Lies And
Non-Stop Propaganda?
|
There
are many reasons to oppose a Bloomberg
presidential campaign. Billionaire rule has
damaged New York, the nation and the entire
world. The word “oligarch” is an insult when
applied to other nations like Russia, but an
American oligarch has announced his intention to
buy the presidency for himself or someone else
and opposition has been quite muted.
Michael
Bloomberg was the worst mayor for black New
Yorkers. While Rudy Guiliani and his overt
appeals to racism drew ire, Bloomberg’s approach
of buying off opposition allowed him to get away
with doing far worse. Al Sharpton was among
those who took Bloomberg’s hush money. The
National Action Network was a recipient of
Bloomberg’s philanthropy and Rev. Sharpton was
silent while every black person in town was a
potential target for police abuse.
“Bloomberg
said white people were stopped too often and
black people not enough.”
Donald
Trump’s role in inflaming white public opinion
in the Central Park case is well known. He paid
for newspaper ads calling for the death penalty.
Even when his targets were exonerated he stood
by his original statement. It is important to
remember the role he played in inciting a
judicial lynch mob.
But
Bloomberg’s equally disgraceful behavior is
largely unknown. No one in New York City media
then or now wants to anger the rich guy. The
fact that financial compensation was withheld
received little or no attention. He may have
better manners, but he targeted black people for
political gain with whites and he created great
suffering in the process.
The
corporate media always follow orders from the
ruling elites. They were instructed to promote
Joe Biden as being more electable but his
campaign has been a gigantic embarrassment.
Other “centrist” Democrats wring their hands
because they can’t agree on a candidate while
Bloomberg has decided that if he wants this
thing done right he had better do it himself.
No one
knows if Bloomberg is more electable than Trump.
Everyone knows that his wealth gives him a huge
advantage and he can decide who will or won’t be
the Democratic Party nominee. His presence in
the race is decidedly undemocratic and should be
denounced.
If
Bloomberg is true to form he will have black
staffers to provide a friendly public face. He
will find respected people to endorse him and
explain away his offenses. But his candidacy
should be a line in the sand and anyone who
supports him should be deemed equally
unacceptable.
Black
Bloomberg supporters will be outing themselves
as traitors and Uncle Toms. It is important to
know one’s enemy. That is a silver lining in
this cloud.
Margaret Kimberley’s Freedom
Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is
widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a
frequently updated blog as well at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com
. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can
be reached via e-Mail at
Margaret.Kimberley(at)www.BlackAgendaReport.com
.
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