Michael Bloomberg didn't exactly get the red carpet treatment when he visited Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, Alabama on Sunday.
According to CBS News, approximately 10 churchgoers rose from their seats together and turned their backs 10 minutes into his remarks about the fight for civil rights. They remained standing facing away from the presidential candidate throughout his speech.
Selma churchgoers turned their backs to Bloomberg yesterday to show their disdain for him. Absolutely a horrific look for Bloomberg. Unfortunately, this is how many, if not most, African Americans I know feel about him. pic.twitter.com/XeaOSaNHsu
— Kenny BooYah! (@KwikWarren) March 2, 2020
The former New York City mayor has been criticized for the controversial policies he has supported and statements he made surrounding them. Last month, audio leaked of a recording of the former mayor defending stop-and-frisk. Bloomberg was heard encouraging New York police officers to look out for specific types of men that fit the criminal profile.
"You can just take the description, Xerox it and pass it out to all of the cops," Bloomberg said about stop-and-frisk. "They are male minorities, 16 to 25. That's true in New York, that's true in virtually any city. And, that's where the real crime is. You've got to get the guns out of the hands of people that are getting killed."
According to the New York Post, the 78-year-old also said on his radio show that police “disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little. It’s exactly the reverse of what they say.”
Reverend Leodis Strong introduced Bloomberg at the historic Selma church on Sunday, CBS News reported. The presidential candidate declined Strong's initial invitation to the church because of his campaign schedule.
"Let me just say this. I think it's important that he came," Strong said before the congregation. "And it shows a willingness on his part to change. And I like that, and I think that that is important."
Bloomberg joined fellow candidates Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg after the Sunday service. The group planned to take part in the annual march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate "Bloody Sunday."
Congressman John Lewis, who was among the hundreds of protesters who were brutally injured during the march across Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965, also attended the service.
"We cannot give up now, we cannot give in," Lewis said. "We must keep the faith, keep our eyes on the prize. We must go out and vote like we've never, ever voted before … Get in the way. Get in good trouble. And help redeem the soul of America."
