Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, apparently still trying to reach Black voters, decided to show his concern for their well being by advocating for the nationwide use of an extremely controversial policing practice—one that, like all bad policing, disproportionately affects Black people.
During a Black voter-focused town hall in Cleveland that aired on Fox News last night (September 22), Trump answered an audience question on how to stop violence in Black communities by advocating for the implementation of stop and frisk across the country.
"I would do stop and frisk. I think you have to," Trump said. "We did it in New York, it worked incredibly well. And you have to be proactive, and you know, you really help people sort of change their mind automatically."
The policy, first implemented in New York City, allows police officers to stop and physically search people regardless of whether or not they believe a crime was committed. Stop and frisk’s critics say it exarcerbates racist profiling and abuse of citizens of color, and a federal judge in New York City ruled it unconstitutional.
Trump’s position provoked criticism from the New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, as well as many social media users:
Trump: “What do you have to lose by voting for me?”
*proposes national stop and Frisk*
Black people: “Our civil liberties, for starters.”
— Imani Gandy (@AngryBlackLady) September 21, 2016
Donald Trump is calling for the wider use of stop-and-frisk in cities across the U.S. pic.twitter.com/I7zTw7sBie
— AJ+ (@ajplus) September 22, 2016
Note that Trump isn’t proposing national stop-and-frisk to find more bombers. He says it’ll lessen crime. That has been widely disproven.
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) September 21, 2016
@ajjaffe @maggieNYT Lets have stop and frisk of all Wall Street executives briefcases and laptops to monitor for fraud,start with Trump
— Michael P (@PanagosMichael) September 21, 2016
Later on Fox News, Trump said he only meant to include cities with high rates of shooting deaths like Chicago.
In other Trump news, Kathy Miller, one of his campaign chairs in Ohio, resigned today after telling The Guardian that there was "no racism" before President Barack Obama, calling Black Lives Matter "a stupid waste of time" and suggesting that "if you’re Black and you haven’t been successful in the last 50 years, it’s your own fault." A statement from Trump’s Ohio campaign to Politico called her comments "inappropriate."