Posted on 11/28/2006 4:00:09 PM PST by NormsRevenge
NEW YORK - The morning 23-year-old Sean Bell was shot to death by police, his grieving relatives did something that has become almost routine in such cases: They called the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Within hours, the longtime civil rights activist had consoled relatives, held two news conferences, and begun organizing a community rally for the next day.
Sharpton has long been a fixture on New York's left-wing scene, and has been especially vocal in his crusade against police brutality since the 1990s. But the Saturday shooting, which left Bell dead on his wedding day and wounded two other black men, is proving again how far Sharpton has come since the days he was routinely derided as a race-baiting, publicity-hungry opportunist.
His rhetoric this week has been decidedly less harsh than in previous episodes, and he has been given unprecedented access to City Hall thanks to a mayor who is intent on not making the same mistakes of past administrations in dealing with racially divisive situations.
All the while, he keeps asking a question that many — including Mayor Michael Bloomberg — are asking: "Why did officers fire 50 rounds at three unarmed men?"
At least one of his former detractors has been impressed with the way Sharpton has handled the situation.
"His rhetoric is totally acceptable in my judgment," said former Mayor Ed Koch, who once called Sharpton "Al Charlatan" and has had him arrested. "I haven't read a single statement on his part that is demagogic. I think he's conducted himself in a statesman-like manner."
Born in Brooklyn in 1954, Alfred Sharpton Jr. was preaching by the time he was a preschooler and was ordained a Pentecostal minister by age 9. His father deserted the family after impregnating and later marrying his stepdaughter. Sharpton and the rest of his immediate family fell into poverty. But activism kept him focused while other children got into crime and drugs.
In the 1980s, he earned national prominence after ugly racial episodes in Howard Beach and Bensonhurst involving white gangs attacking and killing black males. Sharpton toured the press circuit, led large demonstrations and, in the Howard Beach case, helped force the appointment of a special prosecutor.
Over the years, Sharpton, who used to don velvet jumpsuits and gold medallions, has been accused of financial irregularities and blamed for inciting racial unrest. In what was perhaps his biggest blunder, he wrongly accused a prosecutor of rape in the 1980s case of Tawana Brawley, a teen whose claims of kidnapping and abuse were determined to be a hoax by authorities. The prosecutor later won a $65,000 defamation judgment against Sharpton.
In 1991, while leading a demonstration, Sharpton was stabbed in the chest by a white man. He said the incident moved him to be more careful with his rhetoric. His appeal has broadened since, enough for him to run for president, but he has remained unequivocal in demanding proper justice for minority communities.
Sharpton led protests against police after the 1997 torture of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima and the 1999 fatal shooting of African immigrant Amadou Diallo. On Saturday, after meeting with Bell's distraught relatives, Sharpton again demanded answers from the police over the shooting, carried out by five officers who were white, Hispanic and black.
He insisted, however, "We're not anti-police ... we're anti-police brutality." And at the Sunday rally, he framed the shooting as part of a larger struggle, declaring, "We've got to understand that all of us were in that car."
Once elected officials avoided him. But on Monday, Sharpton was among key figures who joined Bloomberg at news conference to address the shootings.
I have a couple variations on that headline,, but will defer posting them, for now.
As Mark Steyn notes, a falling camel attracts a thousand knives.
It's a shame that situations allow vermin like him to thrive.
Guess they forgot about Freddie's and his "Jewish Diamond Merchant" comments during the Crown Heights Riots.
seems like sharpton and klinton go together, they are both slime...
Rubbish as usual. Sharpton is a bum. Has he ever paid a dime on that judgment against him for defaming the Dutchess County prosecutor?
We're still waiting for Sharpton's apology about Tawana Brawley, accusing a cop and the prosecutor of being racists.
Starting a race riot-Yankel Rosenbaum.
Freddy's Fashion Mart, instigation a murderous riot.
Calling Jews interlopers and diamond merchants. One of his big applause/laugh lines was about JEW-lery.
The list of his racism goes on and on.
He has no place in respectable society, if we were a civilized society, he would be shunned and ignored, and not allowed on TV, including Hannity's show.
And the RINO Bloomberg met with Ass Sharpton yesterday and pretty much kissed it. Maybe Bloomturd can answer me, when a punk reaches into his waist like he has a gun, does one wait to see if it is real or does he give trust in his bulletproof vest and take his chances?
"seems like sharpton and klinton go together, they are both slime..."
The Clintons did a lot to get Sharpton accepted as a mainline Democratic political voice. And they no doubt expected a lot in return.
Sharpton claiming "stature" is like swearing you're going in to the brothel just to chat with the piano player.
I'm not a cop, but I would think that if its night and your at a car with a few people inside and you see someone reaches into his waistband, chances are your in somewhat of an awkward position, where if there is a gun pulled out and shots fired, chances are slim that your bp vest would be hit, as your head is probably going to be a bigger target at that time. JMHO.
That's like saying the load in my kid's diaper has risen to a worse reek.
Had Guiliani won in 1989 instead of 1993 hundreds of lives might have been saved.
I believe he paid a bit, but through a friend who lent him the money, but nowhere near what he owes Steven Pagones. Sort of like OJ paying the Goldmans a pitance for butchering their son. To this day Mr. Al Punkarse has never apologized to Mr. Pagones, even though Tawana (now going by a new name in a different state) pretty much went "eeenie meenie myni moe" when pointing a finger without a shred of evidence. But did that matter to Al Shmuckton and liberals? Of course not. That kind of character is Presidential material according to them.
New heights? How high can you stack pimp?
He must have borrowed some of Limbaugh's Viagra
Al would never stoop so low as to get his own
I fixed the headline.
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