Is Daily News Story on Slave Roots Sharpton's Presidential Campaign Kick Off?

NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Is it just coincidence that a story has appeared touting the fact that Al Sharpton is the descendant of slaves, ones owned by relatives of Strom Thurmond to boot, or is it the unofficial kick-off of Sharpton's presidential campaign, with a major boost from Sharpton's hometown newspaper?

Let's put these three stories together:

On January 17, a story appears reporting: "civil rights activist Al Sharpton said Monday he is seriously considering a run for president. " And why is Sharpton running? "If we're talking about the urban agenda, can you tell me anybody else in the field who's representing that right now?" Translation: Obama might be preparing to announce, but he's not addressing African-American issues.

Three weeks later, on the day Barack Obama announces his candidacy, a story appears in which Al Sharpton declares “just because you’re our color doesn’t make you our kind.” Translation: Barack Obama is not an authentic African-American.

Just two weeks after Obama's announcement, a story bursts out of the Daily News declaring that Sharpton's ancestors were slaves owned by relatives of Strom Thurmond.

Now, what better way to focus on the distinction between you and Barack Obama than a national story underlining the fact that you are a descendant of slaves, which Obama, as the son of a Kenyan, is pointedly not?

Note that the Daily News story mentions that "for the better part of two weeks, a team of genealogists - led by Megan Smolenyak, an ancestry scholar who has written four books and was the lead researcher for the PBS "Ancestors" series - unpeeled the layers of Sharpton's family tree. The Daily News gave him [Sharpton] the opportunity to explore his family's history with the help of a team of experts from Ancestry.com - a company that has archived more than 5 billion documents around the world and has 55 million additional pieces of data dedicated to African-American ancestry. and that "a team of some of the country's most trusted genealogists spent two weeks examining Sharpton's family background."

Reading between the lines, it seems likely that there was an intersection of interests here. Ancestry.com wanted some publicity, the Daily News wanted a big story, and for purposes of launching his presidential campaign, Al Sharpton wanted something that not only put him in the limelight, but focused attention on his roots of slavery, making him, in his own words, one of "our kind," akin to millions of other African-Americans and distinct from Barack Obama.

And so the Daily News commissioned Ancestry.com to undertake the research. Did the News pay Ancestry.com, or did the company offer its services free of charge as part of its self-promotional campaign? And what better subject for its research than Sharpton? Was the story really the shock that Sharpton has made it out to be, or did he cooperate with the research? And what reason was there to undertake this now? After all, nothing could be less surprising than the fact that Sharpton, like virtually all African-Americans, is the descendant of slaves? Of course the fact that Sharpton's ancestors might have been owned by relatives of Strom Thurmond is icing on the publicity cake.

It all came together in this Daily News story. I'd say that's what's really going on here. Look for the Reverend Al to announce his candidacy before long.

Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Sharpton-for-President ping to Today show list.

[BigSkyFreeper]

LOL! If nothing else, Al Sharpton can make the upcoming election season interesting.

[ClaireSolt]

How does the Urban agenda relate to slavery? Reactionary democrats are stuck in the past?

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Have a look at the image of the front-page of this morning's Daily News. You'll see Sharpton holding up yesterday's paper. Two front-page stories in a row, in what is sure to be a continuing series as Al explores his roots, the Thurmond family's reaction is obtained, etc. Does it get any better than this for Al?

[DustyMoment]

LOL! If nothing else, Al Sharpton can make the upcoming election season interesting.

He always does.

[Slump Tester]

Once again, I'll be a "Republican for Sharpton". (But only in the primary of course.)

[Slump Tester]

I guess we need to dust this off:

Go Al, Go!

[when the time is right]

Go for it Al. I would pay big money to see Al and Obama in a debate. Maybe it should be held in Las Vegas and be on Pay for View.

[wtc911]

A little local history knowledge helps understand this...

Sharpton ran for the NYS senate every chance he could from 1988 onward and actually garnered a significant % of the vote at one time. He announced against HRC for the nomination in 2000 and could have hurt her by forcing debates and in the urban blocs. He dropped suddenly very early in the process. It was understood that the Clinton machine (can we say FBI files?) shut him down.

I've always wanted to know the details of that deal.

Sharpton owes his public life to Percy Sutton of Inner City Broadcasting (WLIB in NYC). It was Sutton who gave Sharpton, Maddox and Mason a daily soapbox during the years of the Tawana Brawley hoax. LIB had always given Al free reign. That changed when HRC ran in NYS. Sutton gave her everything she asked for, including regular interviews on LIB that were love-fests directed at the black audience. (LIB later became the 'flagship' station for Air America - since cancelled).

Now it seems that the Sutton (Dinkens-Jackson) machine is pulling hard for HRC which means using Sharpton as a cat's paw to swat at Obama.

[R.W.Ratikal]

Sharpton, one of the Democrat's more colorful (no pun intended) presidential candidates, announces he is once again going for the millions of dollars taxpayers' give to candidates in matching funds.

Democrats are lining up with the usual sorry list of presidential candidates. John Edwards, Al Gore, Al Sharpton, Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama, Ralph Nader, John Kerry, Lyndon La Roche, etc.

Makes you proud to be a Democrat doesn't it?

[BigSkyFreeper]

Once again, I'll be a "Republican for Sharpton". (But only in the primary of course.)

LOL! My thoughts exactly. The local Republican's were floored the last time around until they realized it was all in jest.

My grandfather laughed so hard at the campaign bumper sticker I made for the Al Sharpton campaign, I thought he was going to have a heart attack. I made him one and he taped it to the bottom left corner of the rear window of their Cadillac until the primary season was over.

[twonie]

Don't you know the Thurmond family is THRILLED that slavery is over and they neither own nor are responsible for Al Sharpton?

[Eaker]

Of course the fact that Sharpton's ancestors might have been owned by relatives of Strom Thurmond is icing on the publicity cake.

Very sloppy work!