“I’m looking at that and I just have to say people aren’t stupid. They can figure out if someone is honestly addressing an issue or whether they’re acting out of convenience. For years so many of us said when he was mayor of New York City this is hurting people, this is creating division,” de Blasio said. “Lo and behold when I came into office, we absolutely abolished the approach Michael Bloomberg had taken to stop-and-frisk. The city has gotten safer six years in a row, and the relationship between police and community is healing.”

“I’m always glad when someone has the ability to apologize. I am contesting why now and why under this circumstance. But the much bigger point here is stop-and-frisk was discredited years and years ago,” he continued. “Years ago in this city there were many of us saying it was discriminatory, harming families, holding us back. Michael Bloomberg wouldn’t listen.”