Their Pastor Endorsed Bloomberg. Some Harlem Congregants Say That Was a Mistake

Outside the Abyssinian Baptist Church on W 138th and Lenox Avenue on Sunday morning 

Last week, former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg found himself standing once again before black clergy, seeking forgiveness for past sins. Hours earlier, an audio recording of him crudely defending stop and frisk had surfaced online. “Put a lot of cops” in “minority neighborhoods” to address murder rates, he told an Aspen Institute crowd in 2015, and “throw them against the wall.” Amid widespread backlash, Bloomberg summoned his allies in the faith community to a private meeting at his Times Square headquarters.

Their conversation was reportedly “genuine” but “not hostile,” and culminated in a joint statement attributed to eighteen black clergy members affirming that “none of us believe that Mike Bloomberg is a racist.” The campaign distributed the message of support to the press just as video of another controversial Bloomberg comment — this time showing him linking the financial crisis to the elimination of a discriminatory housing policy — began ricocheting around the internet, drawing a fresh round of condemnation.

Explaining his continued loyalty to Bloomberg, Reverend Calvin Butts, the pastor at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, told Politico: “He used his money, which is one of the reasons I continue to support him, to express his sincerity.”

Three days later, as worshipers poured into Sunday mass at the historic Gothic building on 138th Street where Butts has long preached, many expressed misgivings about the influential minister giving his stamp of approval to Bloomberg.

“He shouldn’t be endorsing anyone on the church’s behalf,” said Jerome Jackson, a 63-year-old Harlem resident and congregant at Abyssinian. “I do not think most of the people here agree with those statements.”

Like several other churchgoers, Jackson suggested that Butt’s support for the billionaire candidate was based on political and financial opportunism. “He’s had his palms greased before,” said Jackson, referencing the pastor’s endorsement of Republican governor George Pataki in 1998 and Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in 2008. Following Pataki’s victory, Butts wasgiven an appointment by a governor-controlled board as president of SUNY Old Westbury, where he took home a recent salary of $246,684, according to public records.

Other congregants said their pastor’s endorsement of Bloomberg had no bearing on their personal feelings about the candidate. “Don’t like him, won’t vote for him,” said Thomasine, a retired NYC public school teacher, who declined to share her last name. “Bloomberg was terrible on education. [Butts] has his own issues. I was in the church before he came, so that’s fine.”

A request to interview Reverend Butts was declined on Sunday, and the church did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

Reverend Calvin Butts (left) marching alongside activist Cornel West during a protest against police brutality in 2016

Bloomberg’s efforts to court the city’s Christian leaders dates back to his days as mayor. In 2009, the Times analyzed the web of ties between Bloomberg and black clergy, forged through “an unusual combination of city money, private philanthropy, political appointments and personal attention.” While seeking a third term, Bloomberg cut a $1 million check to the Abyssinian’s development corporation, earning him Butts’s endorsement over Bill Thompson, the NYC comptroller to whom the reverend had previously pledged his support.

Ahead of his late entrance into the presidential race, Bloomberg, who’s worth an estimated $60 billion, seems to have broadened the scope of this politically strategic philanthropy. Recent reporting shows that the $3.3 billion he spent on charitable giving in 2019 — a sum higher than he gave in the previous five years combined — has bought him favor among prominent groups, like Emily’s List, whose leaders were troubled by Bloomberg’s remarks questioning the veracity of allegations emerging from the #MeToo movement.

At least some of those donations seems to have translated into the backing of high-ranking black leaders. After announcing his endorsement last week, New York Congressman Gregory Meeks said Sunday that he’d overcome concerns about Bloomberg’s policing legacy because he “put his money where his mouth is.”

But some Harlem residents say they’re not willing to forgive the former mayor quite so easily.

“I’ve been stopped and frisked. My daughter has been stopped and frisked. My daughter’s friends have been stopped and frisked,” said Tobius Simmons, a security guard at Williams Institutional CME, a Methodist Episcopal church a few blocks south of Abyssinian. “So he’s had a negative impact on quality of life for most working-class people around here.”

“The things that come out of his mouth about certain segments of society — he’s unaware and arrogant,” Simmons continued. He cited Bloomberg’s lengthy history of misogynistic comments, including his labeling of federal Judge Shira Scheindlin, who ruled stop and frisk unconstitutional, as “some woman.”

A Jill Stein supporter in 2016, Simmons said he was leaning toward Senator Bernie Sanders in the next election, but had largely lost faith in the political establishment. “The Democrats don’t have a vision. At least the Republicans have a vision. They’re willing to put pedophiles in office so they can get more white judges in the south — that’s a vision!” he declared.

As Biden’s poor performance in Iowa and New Hampshire has left the Democrats’ moderate lane up for grabs, Bloomberg has seen his prospects begin to rise. A new national poll from NPR, PBS NewsHour, and Marist shows Bloomberg polling in second place behind Sanders.

Multiple people who spoke to Gothamist on Sunday morning said they were waiting to throw their support behind the candidate who had the best chance of success in November, even if that meant voting for someone with whom they strongly disagreed.

“Stop and frisk was a serious, serious negative policy. But you know, he’s better than Trump. So I think people are grappling with that,” said Desmond West, a New Rochelle resident, as he hurried into mass on Sunday.

Ms. Harris, an Abyssinian churchgoer who declined to share her first name, said she disliked Bloomberg, but remained undecided about who she’ll vote for when the New York primary rolls around on April 28th. “The things that have taken place against this community, [Bloomberg] didn’t really apologize for them in the way that we thought he should,” Harris said. “It wasn’t quite sincere.”

“But he definitely has more values than our current president,” she added. “So I don’t know. I really just want to get behind someone strong enough to actually win.”