The tragic event in Ferguson, Missouri, where an unarmed black teen, Michael Brown, was killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, triggered off a wave of protests, rioting and looting.
As usual, the event was politicized. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were in town. These two men made their careers as defenders of the black community. This means that they have to convince their followers that America is racist and black people need defending. Otherwise, they don’t have a job.
And now the Justice Department is to begin investigating the Ferguson Police Department to look for a long term pattern of civil rights violations. Is this investigation legitimate, or is it a smoke and mirrors inquiry ordered by the Obama administration to distract from more important issues?
Al Sharpton is always scraping the bottom of the barrel to look for racism when there often is none to be found. For example, in the Tawana Brawley case from the late 1980s, Al Sharpton and others made defamatory accusations against the then District Attorney, Steven Pagones of rape.
It was all a lie. Pagones has successfully sued Sharpton, Brawley and others for defamation. Sharpton again defended another false accuser, Crystal Mangum, who lied that a group of lacrosse players from Duke University gang-raped her.
Sharpton told Bill O’Reilly of Fox News: “…I think that when you look at the racial atmosphere, when you look at the fact that there again were the allegations of racial statements, when you look at a lot of people feeling that they have been treated differently, where this girl has basically had a character charged in the media, there is a lot of racism that’s in the air.”
Sharpton also went after George Zimmerman after he shot Trayvon Martin in what the court later deemed to be self-defense. Again Sharpton was barking up the wrong tree and Zimmerman was found not guilty in court. What makes things worse is that Sharpton uses inflammatory language that sometimes get people killed.
In 1991, thugs later admittedly incited by Sharpton killed two people in Crown Heights, neighborhood of Brooklyn in response to an African American boy being killed in an auto accident. In reference to the incident, Sharpton said, “We must not reprimand our children for outrage, when it is the outrage that was put in them by an oppressive system.”
Every time, there is trouble involving the black community, Sharpton is there to make things worse. I guess that is his job. He poses as the defender of the black community and so must blame American racism for the problem even when there was none. Now he has injected himself into the tragic killing of Michael Brown.
At Brown’s funeral, Sharpton delivered the eulogy. He said, “Michael Brown does not want to be remembered for a riot. He wants to be remembered as the one that made America deal with how we’re going to police in the United States.”
This statement says a lot. It assumes that the police did something wrong. According to the police, Brown attacked the police officer who fired in self defense. To back up the claim, it showed a store video where Brown allegedly pushed aside a store clerk and stole some cigars. Brown appears to be an unruly teen and it is possible that he attacked a police officer.
The truth is that no one yet knows exactly what happened that day. Yes Brown was shot and killed-but what were the circumstances? What will the forensic evidence show? Sharpton is jumping to conclusions and wants the federal government to get involved when no one yet knows the circumstances of Brown’s death.
This week, in an op-ed penned by Sharpton and published by the Huffington Post, the Reverend decried that, “We must get federal intervention immediately. We must challenge Congress to deal with police brutality and misconduct. We must see federally implemented standards in precincts and jurisdictions across the country.”
Sharpton is an irresponsible rabble rouser who has a long track record of being wrong. His involvement in the Ferguson shooting gave me a feeling of deja vu all over again. My first reaction is that the white police officer is probably innocent since Sharpton is turning Michael Brown, the teen that was killed, into some sort of hero.
After all, Sharpton has been wrong so many times – the Tawana Brawley affair, the Duke Lacrosse false rape case, the Crown Heights riot and later the Zimmerman trial. He is not interested in the truth. He is only interested in posing as a protector of the black people against white racism.
This is a lucrative job, if you can find the work. That is why he has shouted racism so many times when there was none. Sharpton has done well financially for himself. He got his own TV show at MSNBC. How did a rabble rouser, riot inciter and liar who was successfully sued get a job on a major news channel?
Well, TV stations are more interested in ratings and profits than in telling the truth. MSNBC knows that Sharpton can make money for them even though he causes riots at times. They don’t care if there is a riot and people die. In fact, it is news that will drive up ratings.
There is a lot of anger in the black community because they are poorer than the majority whites. This anger is unfortunately exploited by black leaders and politicians for their own gain.
A successful businessman and author, Robert H. Lee has spent years extensively researching the history of nations for his book Saving Democracy from Suicide. (LINK: www.savingdemocracyfromsuicide.com) A self-professed Americaphile, Lee resides in Singapore with his family, but he previous lived in the United States where he went to the University of Michigan for his MBA.