Koch Speaks

Our beloved former mayor is interviewed by the Forward’s Daniel Treiman. The focus of the interview is Koch’s continued fight against anti-Semitism. While I am not particularly interested in the “defense” organizations fundraising efforts fight in this regard, Koch is a different story, as he is a legitimate Jewish leader. The elected kind. And he was a Jewish leader even when mayor of New York, something unheard of before Koch.

Self-described as “a liberal with sanity,” these are code words. Koch was really not a liberal, but rather, more of a social-democrat, though he has drifted right-ward to some extent in recent years. His support for Bush’s reelection was highly disappointing.

Koch remains hysterical, and he is in rare form as recounts his experience attempting to assuage the conflicts he had with the African-American community.

I’ve had a mixed relationship with Al Sharpton. We’re good friends currently. I had him arrested in 1978. And every time he introduces me, he always says, “This man had me arrested, and he made me famous, and he never stopped talking to me, and we’re friends.” And that’s all true. And he invited me to his 45th birthday at a church at about 116th street, and I went. I didn’t have any security, was all by myself. I went up there, and I walked into the sanctuary where the event was, and there was applause, and then Al Sharpton invites me to speak. And I look at this crowd, it must have been 2,500 people in the church — it was enormous — and there in the front rows were some of the people who had given me lots of problems when I was mayor, and I couldn’t help myself, and so as I looked at this crowd, I say, “Do you miss me?” And they roared.