“Are You Kidding Me?”: MSNBC's Brzezinski Rips WSJ's Mary Kissel For Hyping Racist Stop And Frisk Policies

Mika Brzezinski: “If You're Stopping And Frisking, You're Screwing With The Criminal Justice System And Throwing A Ton Of Minorities” In Jail

From the February 26 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:

Video file

WILLIE GEIST (CO-HOST): Mary, as you know well, in The Wall Street Journal, gun advocates, gun rights advocates say this is not a question of having more laws. This is a societal problem. It's not the guns that are the problem. 

MARY KISSEL: Well let's be real about what the problem is. It's black-on-black violence, and that's something that the mayor isn't speaking about and that's what we should be speaking about. We should also be speaking about the real solution here to the immediate problem, which is politicians running against the police forces. What worked here in New York City was stop, question, and frisk, which, kept guns off the streets and protected the largely minority communities in our urban areas here in New York City. That worked. But now you have federal candidates, candidates for president, running against the police, stoking racial tensions instead of stepping back and saying, who's really being threatened here, and how do we solve the problem based on what's worked in the past. 

MIKA BRZEZINSKI (CO-HOST): Would you like to respond? Or I can.

STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE: I don't even know where to start. The facts are very clear. I've talked about black-on-black crime all the time. We have a call to action for African-American men to step up into the community. But what we heard from her is the same stuff we're always hearing, a bunch of gibberish and no solutions. You can point the finger all you want, that doesn't make us safer. 

BRZEZINSKI: Well, and I -- with all due respect, Mary, I have lesser issues with stop and frisk, as long as they go to every community and stop and frisk.

KISSEL: Well, you have to target the communities --

BRZEZINSKI: Because you have a criminal justice problem --

KISSEL: You have to target the communities where the crime is occurring. The crime isn't occurring on the Upper East Side of New York. 

BRZEZINSKI: Do you know how many people are getting hauled in for marijuana in their pockets and hauled in for this and for that? And lines around the corner around these courthouses with these citations that get thrown out, that throw people off course who are already struggling to get on course. Are you kidding me? Stop and frisk, fine, but bring it to your community and mine as well. And have the white kids with the pot in their pockets brought into jail as well. 

KISSEL: I think criminal justice reform is a separate issue and I think there's bipartisan -- 

BRZEZINSKI: No, it's not. No, it's not a separate issue --

KISSEL: It is, we're talking about two different things.

BRZEZINSKI: Because if you're stopping and frisking you're screwing with the criminal justice system and throwing a ton of minorities in there. 

KISSEL: There is a bipartisan consensus on Capitol Hill for criminal justice reform. I agree with you on that, but you have to protect these communities now because it isn't the one percent elites on the Upper East Side who are at risk today, it is the largely black and Hispanic communities in places like Baltimore, Chicago, New York. By the way, cities that are ruled by liberals and have been ruled by liberals for decades. These are the people that have to be protected and I'm sorry, I have proposed a solution, stop, question, and frisk works. 

BRZEZINSKI: Yes, and also creates massive racial tension. 

Previously: 

Washington Post Debunks Fox Favorite Claim That Rolling Back Stop-And-Frisk Policies Increases Crime

WSJ Editorial Page On Charleston Shooting: Institutionalized Racism No Longer Exists In America

WSJ's Jason Riley: Black Progress Was Better “When Whites Were Still Lynching Blacks”

Wall Street Journal Bravely Comes Out Against Voting Rights And Bipartisanship