To: Mayor Bloomberg

Mayor Bloomberg: Racial profiling must end

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Don't use your wealth to defend racial profiling. New Yorkers oppose discriminatory policing and Mayor Bloomberg should not use his super PAC to attack City Council members who voted to protect civil rights and protect New Yorkers from discrimination.

Why is this important?

In the Bloomberg era, the NYPD has stopped New Yorkers over five million times in its controversial stop-and-frisk program. Nearly 90% of those stopped are Black or Latino/a and the vast majority (nearly 90%) have done nothing wrong. New Yorkers have had enough of discriminatory policing – and our elected leaders in the City Council have gotten the message and taken action.

Last month, the City Council passed the Community Safety Act (Intro 1079 and 1080), two new landmark laws that will create independent oversight for the NYPD, and protect New Yorkers from discriminatory police profiling based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, immigration status, disability, and housing status.

Mayor Bloomberg vetoed the legislation on July 23rd, but that does not seem to be enough for him. In his unique position as New York’s wealthiest citizen (in addition to being mayor), he and his surrogates have threatened to use his wealth to attack City Council Members who vote to override his veto.

While it is legal because of the wrong-headed Citizens United Supreme Court decision, this is a gross distortion of government. If a sitting mayor with effectively unlimited wealth can flood a small City Council race with attack ads and mailers solely for the purpose of fighting a law he disagrees with but the legislature has passed, the “checks and balances” and separation of powers are entirely distorted.

We are ready for a new era for the NYPD, to repair police-community relations and to embrace policing strategies that ensure everyone feels safe walking the streets. We cannot allow one wealthy mayor to stand in the way of progress.