Tawana Brawley – In 1987, Al Sharpton propelled himself to national prominence by taking up of the cause of Tawana Brawley, a young African-American girl who accused six white men of raping her. By the time a jury determined that Brawley had fabricated her entire story, Sharpton had so maliciously slandered several of the accused men with racial epithets that he was successfully counter-sued for defamation. Crown Heights Riot – With ethnic tensions already dangerously fraught, riots erupted in the Brooklyn, N.Y. neighborhood of Crown Heights after a Jewish man accidentally struck and killed a black child with his car in the summer of 1991. Never one to let a good crisis go to waste, Sharpton spoke at the boy’s funeral, referring to the “diamond merchants right here in Crown Heights,” and also led a march during the race riots that followed in which stores were looted, Jews were beat in the streets, and one Jewish student was fatally stabbed. Duke Lacrosse Scandal – In a similar case to Brawley, a young black stripper claimed she was raped at a party by Duke University lacrosse players in the spring of 2006. Never one to be deterred by past experiences, Sharpton heroically mounted his race-baiting horse, declaring on national television that there were “certainly a lot of racial factors,” and “racism that’s in the air” involving the Duke players. After the allegations again proved to be fabricated, Sharpton was actually called out by Whoopi Goldberg on The View. Goldberg called upon Sharpton (alas, to no avail) to apologize for slandering the Duke players. What is more surprising than Sharpton’s habitual need to interject racial division in the midst of crisis and tragedy, is the media’s eager willingness to continually provide him with a megaphone to do it.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Jul 2013 13:06:24 +0000
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