Imagine a white preacher from the South.
Let us suppose this white, Southern preacher utters words full
of racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Mormon and homophobic venom.
Let us suppose that the hateful words uttered by this white,
Southern preacher incited violence which resulted in the deaths of
innocent people.
Let us further suppose that this white, Southern preacher bore
false witness and accused a man of raping a girl and that this man
successfully sued the white, Southern preacher for slander only to
refuse to recompense his victim.
Today, this white preacher from the South would be a despised
figure. He would not be welcome in polite society. He would be
regarded as a hatemonger with neither credibility nor legitimacy.
He would be persona non grata. He would be shunned.
But it is today and Reverend Al Sharpton has uttered words full
of racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Mormon and homophobic venom.
Sharpton’s words have incited violence that resulting in the deaths
of innocent people. Sharpton did slander an Assistant District
Attorney for committing rape and was successfully sued but got
others to pay that debt. And yet if a preacher is black instead of
white and is based in Harlem instead of Hattiesburg, that preacher
isn’t shunned but rather showered with praise and power. Consider
what Jeff Jacoby
wrote about Sharpton in the Boston Globe:
If Sharpton were a white skinhead, he would be a political
leper, spurned everywhere but the fringe. But far from being
spurned, he is shown much deference. Democrats embrace him.
Politicians court him. And journalists report on his comings and
goings while politely sidestepping his career as a hatemongering
racial hustler.
Now consider that Jacoby wrote these words in January 2003.
Nearly a decade later little has changed and in the wake of the
Trayvon Martin shooting, Sharpton’s power might very arguably be at
or near its zenith despite the dubious and incendiary nature of his
statements regarding the case.
Here is what Sharpton said during a
rally in support of Martin in Sanford, Florida on March 22,
2012:
Don’t let them trick you. They gonna send provocateurs in
talkin’ bad. They are workin’ for the other side. The Trayvon side,
we gonna win this and we not givin’ them no way out.
Well, who exactly are they? Who are the provocateurs and what
have they said? Who does Sharpton consider to be the other side? A
little over a week later, Sharpton
spoke about moving “to the next level if Zimmerman isn’t
arrested.” These are not the words of a man appealing for calm and
reason.
Nor are the words he chose in an article he wrote shortly before
the Sanford rally. Sharpton began article titled, “Why race matters
in the Trayvon Martin tragedy,” by invoking the 1955 murder of
Emmett Till stating he was “openly and viciously murdered because
of the sentiments of bigoted individuals who believed they had the
right to carry out their own brand of injustice.” Sharpton went on
to
argue:
In a society that still views young men of color as threatening,
dangerous and suspicious without cause, these self-defense laws in
Florida and elsewhere give free range for anyone to openly kill
those that they may not like or those that make them feel
uncomfortable because of their own inherent prejudices. And the
race/ethnicity of Zimmerman or any citizen in this type of scenario
doesn’t matter, because at the end of the day, it is the race of
the victim — Trayvon — that does matter. It is his race and his
demographic that is consistently depicted as the threat and
negatively portrayed in popular culture.
But what about Sharpton’s inherent prejudices? Sharpton
assumes Trayvon Martin was killed on account of his race.
The trouble with Sharpton’s assumption is, as it turns out, George
Zimmerman
had been critical of the Sanford Police for not arresting the
son of its officers for assaulting a homeless, black man back in
December 2010. Who amongst the killers of Emmett Till would have
come to the defense of a black man much less been publicly critical
of police in Mississippi? Under a different set of circumstances,
Sharpton might have hailed Zimmerman a hero. Whatever the facts
that led to the death of Trayvon Martin, Reverend Sharpton is not
concerned with them. He is concerned only with his power and
prestige.
Sharpton’s prestige has certainly been enhanced by the presence
of Attorney General Eric Holder at his National Action Network
Convention last week. Yet the prestige bestowed upon Sharpton is
hardly confined to the left of the political spectrum. One of the
sponsors of the National Action Network Convention was News
Corporation, the parent company of the Fox News Channel. As
noted by Sharpton himself, “They bash me on Fox News. But they
sponsor my conference.” No doubt Sharpton is laughing all the way
to the bank. And why wouldn’t he? Sharpton has never had to face
the consequences of his actions and chances are he never will.
With George Zimmerman arrested and charged with second degree
murder, things have calmed down for the time being. But sooner or
later there will be a trial and the heat will be back on with
Reverend Sharpton accompanied by gasoline tankers and lighter
fluid. If Zimmerman’s trial results in anything less than a guilty
verdict accompanied by a life sentence, an explosion is sure to
follow. Of course, there is a possibility that this case might not
proceed to trial because of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law. If
that happens the combustion might very well be even greater. Should
an explosion of violence come to pass, then those in polite society
would bear part of the blame. After all, it is those in polite
society that supplied Sharpton with the gasoline tankers and the
lighter fluid in the first place.
