I was the judge in the stop-and-frisk case. I don't think Bloomberg is racist.

At the time of the Floyd trial, and still today, I am convinced that Mayor Bloomberg believed that the stop-and-frisk policy — which began under Rudy Giuliani, his immediate predecessor, but grew dramatically during Mr. Bloomberg’s tenure — was protecting African-Americans, who were disproportionately the victims of crime. Although it has been widely disproved, he believed in the “broken windows” theory of policing, where stopping small infractions would prevent an escalation of crime. He believed his police commissioner, Ray Kelly, who told him that young black men would leave their guns at home if they thought they would be stopped. This was misguided because a stop based on racial profiling instead of reasonable suspicion is unconstitutional. But this does not mean he hates black people. The most I can say is he had a pure heart but an empty head; the stop-and-frisk program was very poorly executed…

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Mayor Bloomberg, and so many others who were born and raised into what is now known as white privilege, don’t put themselves in the shoes of these victims. As an older white woman, I will never be stopped and thrown up against a wall. I know that. And Mayor Bloomberg does too.

No one is perfect. But there is another side to Mr. Bloomberg that may not be as well known: His achievements in creating opportunities for many minority New Yorkers while mayor and his commitment to good works in his post-mayoral years.

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