Mike Bloomberg… Black Voters … ‘Stop and Frisk’…….

Two months after jumping into the presidential race, Michael R. Bloomberg has hired staff members in 35 states. He has poured $200 million into advertising. He has crisscrossed the country,visiting dozens of cities far from the standard campaign trail.

But one issue has dogged him the entire way: His use of stop-and-frisk policing as mayor of New York City and his late apology for the tactic, which targeted black and Latino men.

In the clearest sign yet of the threat that stop-and-frisk poses to his candidacy, Mr. Bloomberg traveled to Tulsa, Okla., on Sunday to deliver an unusually personal speech that attempted to show a greater awareness about race. After visiting a church with a largely black congregation, Mr. Bloomberg said at a nearby cultural center that being white likely helped propel his success and announced an economic plan to help black Americans.

But in making those remarks, Mr. Bloomberg is inevitably drawing attention to his record on stop-and-frisk. Its crushing impact on many minority New Yorkers remains a vulnerability for him in the Democratic race, where black voters are deeply influential.

“I think what he said was good, but it doesn’t take stop-and-frisk off the table,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said in an interview on Monday. “It just means there’s more on the table to discuss. I want to hear a plan from every other candidate about how to close the black wealth gap.”

Stop-and-frisk had been a staple of policing in the United States for decades before Mr. Bloomberg took office. But under him, New York City drastically expanded its use: The number of stops multiplied sevenfold, surging to 685,724 in 2011 from 97,296 in 2002.

The practice grew even as evidence accumulated that the stops were disproportionately affecting minority residents. Across the city, a generation of young men felt harassed, humiliated and under surveillance.

And after the city lost a landmark case in 2013, in which a federal judge ruled that New York’s use of stop-and-frisk violated the constitutional rights of minorities, Mr. Bloomberg was defiant, warning that the decision could lead to “a lot of people dying.”

It took him more than seven years to reassess his position, apologizing for the practice at a black church in Brooklyn one week before declaring his bid for the Democratic nomination for president late last year….

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