Reverend Al Does L.A.
For me, one of life’s enduring mysteries is how so many people seem to take Al Sharpton seriously. He is a man who came to prominence in perpetration of a slanderous hoax, one for which he has yet to express remorse. He is a charlatan of the first order, though he seems to make a handsome living at it. It beats working, one supposes.
Mr. Sharpton was here in Los Angeles recently to mark the two-month anniversary of Trayvon Martin’s death. L.A. might seem an odd choice of venue to for the occasion until one remembers that Sunday is the 20th anniversary of the Rodney King riots. Shaprton’s thinly veiled message is this: Consider the potential consequences if the criminal justice system fails to produce the result that the No Justice, No Peace crowd desires.
I have more to say on this in my most recent column on PJ Media, which you can read here. And for those interested in learning about the early moments of the riots, I described them two years ago in this piece, also at PJ Media.
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Jul '10
Re: Reverend Al Does L.A.
Chaos, destruction, and death are all that have ever followed this "Reverend". He has much to answer for, and it's bizarre that many won't call him on it. Every time he's on TV, libelling Steve Pagones in the Tawana Brawley hoax and the deaths in the Freddy's Fashion Mart case should be brought up until he's a pariah.
Oct '10
Re: Reverend Al Does L.A.
For as much turmoil Ol Al has created over time, the wise choice seems to be just let him fade away. Any other action would simply fortify and inflame the faithfull. A delicate balance in culture and politics.
May '10
Re: Reverend Al Does L.A.
My husband went up to the riots. We were just dating at the time. His SWAT unit got requested to assist. The stories he brought back of the utter lawlessness and destruction was mind boggling. He said driving up the nearly empty freeway, peering around the kevlar vests they'd stuffed in the windows of the patrol unit, every one of the SWAT team was stunned and gazing around open mouthed. It felt like they were driving into a dystopic movie set. When they got to the command center, they were given the task of standing guard over already burned out property. They finally went home when they realized they weren't even being utilized like they could have been.
Jun '10
Re: Reverend Al Does L.A.
Trayvon has sort of become the symbol for all the thousands of sad cases of murdered black teenagers. Usually, black teenagers (belonging to gangs) kill each other, and therefore the killer and the killed somehow end up both being "innocent pawns of the system." That's not very satisfying to the parent who buries a teenager, or who sends their teenager off to prison--just blaming the system. But if at least once, you have a "white Hispanic" to blame, NOW you're getting somewhere. Where? Nobody knows where, but somewhere to let off steam without making your own community look bad...finally.
May '10
Re: Reverend Al Does L.A.
Maybe West Africans like "big men." You can become a big man by either fighting or talking. He chose the second route.
Jul '10
Re: Reverend Al Does L.A.
It's a sad fact of our society that Al Sharpton is a fixture on our TV screens, while the name of Titus Murphy is all but unknown.
Jul '11
Re: Reverend Al Does L.A.
Our city is in the run up to its biggest yearly event. Much of the festivities involve national and region bands playing every night. Many of them involve black artists. My wife usually go to as many of these events as she can, I usually tag along for a few. Because of the current racial tension we have decided to sit out those events that have any significant chance of ethnic (especially black) presence for safety reasons. We both have experience with the wrong side of the tracks when cities riot and know the signs. It is better to be safe than sorry.
Mar '11
Re: Reverend Al Does L.A.
If the concept of justice means anything at all to "Reverend" Al, he must cast a nervous glance skyward every time he hears thunder.
Oct '10
Re: Reverend Al Does L.A.
i hope al sharton gets the blame if violence erupts. we already saw how the media blamed palin for "targetting" politicians in the arizona shooting.
Jan '11
Re: Reverend Al Does L.A.
The Martin case is an irresistible opportunity for vermin like Al and Jesse to re-establish their race-hustling bona fides. Tom Wolfe taught us how this works in "Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers". This dimension of the case has not received the attention it deserves.
Jul '10
Re: Reverend Al Does L.A.
The pity of it, the irreducible fact, is that Al is preaching to the choir. To them the only explanation of generations of crime, violence, drug use, drop outs, unemployment, illegitimacy, welfare dependency, and all the other pathologies of the black community are the white overlords who have been keeping them down.
May '11
Re: Reverend Al Does L.A.
The Rodney King affair occurred in the analog age. We are now in the digital age.
If it occurred now, George Holliday's recording would have been digital and the whole thing would likely have become available on the web. Others with a closer perspective might have recorded earlier (including police dash cameras). The whole story (whatever it was) could have gotten out earlier.
Jul '10
Re: Reverend Al Does L.A.
What an incredible story! Reginald Denny was a household name, but why wasn't this part of the story told? I'd never heard about his rescue.
May '10
Re: Reverend Al Does L.A.
LOVE! Like just wasn't strong enough.
Here's a recent news story: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/A-Good-Samaritan-Remembers--148613585.html
May '10
Re: Reverend Al Does L.A.
Two years ago I was participating in a workout program and made several friends there. One of my friends emailed me asking helping in finding Bible verses about a man's integrity since she was going to be eulogizing her uncle who had just passed away. When I saw her a couple of weeks later, I asked how it went and if any of the verses helped her with the eulogy. She said they did. When I asked her what line of work her uncle had been in, she responded, "He used to be the LAPD police chief."
Ohhhhhhhhhhh! That uncle! I live in a teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy world.