Vinson’s Variety: Rev. Al Sharpton is plenty sharp
First, let me say Rev. Al Sharpton possesses some qualities I find admirable, namely a fervency of the soul. It’s little wonder, with entertainer James Brown, the recognized Godfather of Soul, having been Sharpton’s surrogate father since Sharpton was 16-years-old.
And, yes, I do feel Sharpton is more a self-serving opportunist than an advocate for the people. But I won’t hold that against him, because an individual — these days, anyway — pretty much has to be self-serving to make it to the pinnacle of a desired field.
And it is the very pinnacle, indeed, that Rev. Sharpton seeks: He has announced publicly he intends to run for President of the United States. As has been the case since his emergence on to the public scene, Sharpton’s political forum will rely heavily on his stances concerning criminal justice and affirmative action/racial discrimination. If one cares to probe a bit beyond his current political agenda, a particular episode of the Sharpton chronology provides a case study in both criminal justice and racial discrimination – and political savvy, as well.
Specifically, I am talking about the highly publicized Tawana Brawley incident in New York in 1987. Brawley, a black female, and a teen-ager in 1987, alleged that a Caucasian prosecutor and other Caucasian “law-enforcement officials had raped and brutalized her,” even smearing feces on her body and inscribing racial epithets on her torso with charcoal. When the incident became headline news the nation over, it wasn’t long before Rev. Al jumped aboard the Brawley bandwagon (great exposure).
Daily, he could be seen on prime time news damning the awful white men who had so mistreated the poor black girl, playing the race card to the hilt. However, time proved Sharpton was overly zealous and would have better served himself by more thoroughly researching the Brawley incident before taking sides: A jury later found that Brawley’s story was concocted, a culpable rouse. Subsequently, “In 1998, Sharpton and two associates were sued for defamation and ordered to pay $345,000 in damages.”
As of this writing, neither Sharpton nor the two associates have paid any of the $345,000 in damages awarded by that court. And when quizzed about such on TV interviews, Sharpton takes on a rather smug posture, more or less rubbing it in the system’s face, as if he, for whatever reason, is above U.S. law.
Even though acquitted, those white, law enforcement officials accused by Brawley suffered irreparable damage, and a great deal of that damage was the product of Rev. Sharpton’s headline-grabbing, fire and brimstone demagoguery. I ask you: If Sharpton, a black man, is allowed to go unpunished for the pain and suffering he caused those white men, is not such indicative of racial discrimination, in the true essence of the term? Further, many American, of all colors, would like to know just exactly why Rev. Sharpton has not been made to pay the $345,000 in damages, or at least jailed for not doing so.
A logical answer, possibly, is this: There are prosecutors/police personnel who could, and would, arrest and jail Sharpton. However, they are being restrained by certain influential ones seeking our country’s higher offices, who can better use Sharpton’s ability at swaying the black vote come election time than see him behind bars, disgruntled. And Sharpton is plenty sharp enough to know so.
(Mike Vinson is a Warren County columnist. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].)