A political feud involving the Rev. Al Sharpton, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton went from polite conversation to dire warning mode during a recent City Hall roundtable discussion, with Mr. Sharpton cutting through the bureaucracy to vow: “I’ll be your worst enemy.”
Mr. Sharpton made the remarks to Mr. de Blasio during a Thursday conversation that focused on police practices in the city and whether or not law enforcement has been curbing perceived discriminatory practices, like stop-and-frisk, the New York Post reported. Mr. Bratton said he’s in process of reforming his department; Mr. de Blasio spoke similarly, saying “change has been happening [and] change will continue to deepen.”
Mr. Sharpton, however, wasn’t so quick to agree, calling Mr. de Blasio’s efforts to scale back stop-and-frisk a slow process. Specifically, Mr. Sharpton said he refused to sit idly by as Mr. de Blasio and Mr. Bratton paid lip service to police department reform with change that was little more than “window dressing,” the New York Post reported.
He then warned the mayor: “If we’re going to just play spin games, I’ll be your worst enemy.”
Mr. Sharpton also claimed during the discussion that stop-and-frisk disproportionately impacted the minority communities.
“Given the data that we see … it’s disproportionate in the black and Latino community,” he said, the New York Post reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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