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Mayor Michael Bloomberg criticized U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, calling it “plain wrong” that the congressman said President Barack Obama needed to be careful when visiting Harlem, where a black police officer was fatally shot by a white colleague last week.

“I have a lot of respect for Charlie Rangel, but in this case, he’s just plain wrong,” Bloomberg said Sunday as he marched in the Salute to Israel parade on Fifth Avenue.

“This was a tragedy. Our police department is diverse, and they train; sometimes things happen and they’re inexplicable,” the mayor added. “There’s no reason to suspect this had any racial overtones.”

Bloomberg said he spent Saturday night with the slain officer’s widow and children.

Officer Omar J. Edwards was shot to death Thursday on a Harlem street. He was in street clothes chasing a man and had his service weapon out when three plainclothes officers on routine patrol yelled for the two to stop, police said. One officer opened fire and hit Edwards three times, killing him, police said. It wasn’t until medical workers arrived that it was determined he was a police officer.

Investigators are trying to determine whether anyone was at fault, and the shooting has sparked concern about whether race played a factor. They have said there is no indication at this time that the officer who shot Edwards acted improperly.

Rangel was apparently alluding to the shooting when a Daily News reporter asked him Saturday what he thought the president should do while visiting the city. “Make certain he doesn’t run around in East Harlem without identification,” the congressman said. He also said that the chances of a police officer “of color” getting shot by a colleague were higher than for a white officer.

The president, fulfilling a promise he made to his wife during last year’s campaign, took the first lady to a West Village restaurant on Saturday, before the couple headed to Broadway to see a play.

Tags: Barack Obama, Harlem
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  • http://www.blackplanet.com/Stan_Vinyl/ Stan_Vinyl

    Obama should be careful WHERE EVER HE GOES!

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/weeden/ weeden

    Representive Rangel use to “appear” a resonable person. He proved us all differently when he and his “closed door hench people” set out to DESTROY BLACK RADIO.

    All the representatives from radio wanted was an opportunity to give their take on what would happen if the taxation law passed. He (Rangel) said no.

    That is the way of the OLD SCHOOL!!!

    darryl l weeden

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/BklynBoy79/ BklynBoy79

    I hate to agree with Bloomberg… but Charlie Rangel is nothing but a corrupt idiot. We all know that would not have happened to an undercover white officer, but do I think that it was racially motivated? NO.

    …and, there was no need to say that stupidity to the President of all people. He did come from Chicago after all… I think he knows what the hood is like.

    The people of Harlem need to be smacked for keeping him in office all of these years.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/davettalashley/ davettalashley

    That’s a real funny joke Rangel told, because I was in Harlem the night that President Obama won the election. It was a celebration of PURE JOY up in that mofo!!! People from all over the city were up there and we were ALL having a GREAT TIME!!! If anyone EVER tries to hurt Obama up in Harlem or anywhere else, there will be HELL to pay, no doubt.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/markwjacobs/ markwjacobs

    I guess mayor bloomberg shouldn’t feel the killing of the so-called six million jews were not racially motivated either. how many times has he said that as mayor, i can’t keep count. someone need to remind him of his responsibility to protect all of his constituents, i see he did it when someone threaten to blow up his so-called jew ones. what about your black brothers mayor? we keep hearing the same response and seeing just another dead black male, which seems to be find by you!!

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/gren1shaw2/ gren1shaw2

    Remember,n****rs,alligators,apes,coons and possums.this the way white people see us.it has been open season on the black president since the election.they want him dead and media is stirring the pot.white people hate us because we are no longer their pets.all day and night white people discuss the reasons that black man in the white house.working themselves into a maniacal frenzie.I do’nt think obama realizes how much they hate him.they have always been bloodthirsty.check their history,since they have been on this earth.they hate anyone not like them and always have.I’m afraid our president is in danger.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/DrewRicketts/ DrewRicketts

    Charlie Rangel is right. As I walked into a Brooklyn bodega on Sunday, a man said aloud “How come we never hear about white police officers shooting other white police officers in friendly fire mix-ups?” Bloomberg would like to think that having a black president repairs this divide completely. It does not. Rangel may be a media cad, but he’s quick to say what’s on everyone’s mind.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/nichoj02/ nichoj02

    how crasy is it that this seems to only happen to people of color and you never see a accidental shooting of a white person. What is it white means hold your fire and anything else means open fire and shoot them in the back, or shoot 40 or more times.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/stephenfrazier/ stephenfrazier

    I personally don’t think this was a racially MOTIVATED shooting, but it was clearly racially FACILITATED. The white cop had no second thought about shooting a BLACK man (in the back?), and I don’t think he would have shot a white cop or even a thug who was running away.

    I think the guy will get off, While I think no one should be shot in the back unless he is KNOWN to have committed a CAPITAL offense, no doubt the law will excuse this because the victim was unidentified, was wielding a weapon and ostensibly threatening another person.

    I also think it is weird that there were FOUR plainclothes cops in the same area at the same time. Is Harlem THAT bad?

    As for whites being bloodthirsty and wanting to kill Obama; They have killed three presidents and tried to kill a few more, all WHITE. And blacks kill ten times more blacks than do whites COMBINED, so who’s REALLY bloodthirsty?

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/cestleon/ cestleon

    What’s disturbing is that there are more comments on the trivial antics of famous people than this. This is pretty serious. And granted, on paper, blacks kill at each other at a more accelerated rate. Could it be centuries of pint up angst? I really couldn’t explain it. Could it be that you don’t hear about white on white crime….because the media is too busy patrolling the “black” neighborhoods? Yeah, its easy to shrug this offf when in America the paleness of ones skin basically gaurantees some false sense of priviledge. Some of you can deny it as much as you like, but it’s there.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com//

    The U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT in 2000 found that accidental shooting among police:White officers accidently shot Black officers was 485 out of 500.Black officers accidently shot White officers 0 out of 500.THIS IS DEFINITELY ABOUT COLOR!!! BLACK FOLKS KNOW THAT IN THE U.S.A.WE ARE TO BE HUNTED LIKE ANIMALS UNLESS WE TURN TO YAH FOR OUR PROTECTION..BOTTOM LINE!!!..READ PSALMS 91. LOVE!!!

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/JudahEthiopia/ JudahEthiopia

    That ANOMOUS POST about the 2000 JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REPORT at 10:20 AM WAS ME….JUDAH ETHIOPIA!!!! DONT FORGET PSALMS 91.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/bigj97216/ bigj97216

    stephenfrazier I pity you. There are some pretty good comments posted regarding this story, some even factual. What hole have you had your head stuck in just in the last 3 weeks.
    http://www.racismreview.com

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/TomSlick04/ TomSlick04

    Hey Judah Ethiopia, that’s a veeery disturbing statistic. Do you have a link so I can have proof when I put it out there for the masses?

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/EsidesFinest/ EsidesFinest

    I HATE HOW SOME OF YOU WRITERS OR WHOEVER TRY TO CLEAN THE S**T UP, LIKE IT WASN’T RACIST, “LIKE IT WAS A ACCIDENT.” IF THEY WOULD HAVE IDENTIFIED THEMSELVES WITH WORDS INSTEAD OF F**KING BULLETS WE WOULDN’T EVEN BE HAVING THIS CONVERSATION. ALL THE PROCEDURE AND TRAINING COPS ARE TAKING SEEMS TO BE FORGOTTEN WHEN YOUR CHASING A BLACK MAN. THE FIRST THOUGHT IS TO ELIMINATE THE THREAT, NOT TO NEUTRALIZE AND IDENTIFY THEMSELVES. ONE DAY THIS S**T WILL GO TO FAR AND IT WILL BE TOO LATE FOR EVERYONE. MAYBE WE ARE ALREADY THERE WHO KNOWS…………………………………….

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/AnthonyMB1112/ AnthonyMB1112

    This is America, Was Racist, Is Racist, Will be Racist as long as Caucasians run this Racist Country. We suffer BWB everyday! Breathing While Black!

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/AnthonyMB1112/ AnthonyMB1112

    Black man shot, Oops! White man shot, Oh HELL No!!!

  • http://newsone.com/nation/newsonestaff2/rangel-accuses-obama-of-being-like-dick-cheney/ Rangel Accuses Obama Of Being Like Dick Cheney | News One

    [...] Rangel Says Obama Needs To Be Careful When He Visits Harlem [...]

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    Thank you!…

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