Al Sharpton: Bloomberg Needs to Make ‘Some Sort of Effort for Those That Were Scarred’ by Stop and Frisk

Reverend Al Sharpton has said that former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg needs to do more than just make speeches about Stop and Frisk. Bloomberg was once a strong supporter of the controversial policy but as he’s been fighting for the Democratic nomination, he’s apologized for it.

“I don’t know what he can do either, but I think the challenge is that we can’t just settle for a speech or a tour of speeches asking for forgiveness,” Sharpton told MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

“There ought to be some effort on his past, on his part, rather, to say, and, therefore, I want to try and repair the damages done by this,” Sharpton said.

“Some kind of criminal justice initiative, some kind of effort for those that were scarred,” he said.

“I also, Mika, don’t want to see him as a leaf that the other candidates dump some of their racial baggage, and that’s why I said in my closing last night I want to know what Bernie’s gonna say about the vote he did for the Crime Bill where people went to jail on the Crime Bill, no matter his reason for voting for it, it was a law that incarcerated people.”

“Joe Biden wrote it. Amy Klobuchar, with a 16-year-old that many feel should have never gone to jail that she prosecuted in Minnesota. So I don’t want them to attack Bloomberg to cover the fact that all of them have racial baggage. We can reconcile but let’s recognize that.”

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.