It’s time for Al Sharpton to shut up. It’s time; case closed. It’s also time for mass-media to stop foisting this charlatan on us. He has been discredited over and over and over and over and………………… Enough already. Integrity is the cornerstone of any person’s reputation: “Sharp-tongue” has none. So it’s time for him to shut the f*** up. Period.
Last week, he and Jesse “James” Jackson injected themselves in the Connecticut Democratic primary race by endorsing Ned Lamont over Joe Lieberman. Prima facie that’s okay; they do have the right to endorse any candidate that they want to. But it’s when you dig a little deeper that you expose one of Sharptongue’s many flaws: he is both a political pimp and a political whore, at the same time.
Let me go on record by saying that I don’t give a damn who wins that primary. I may slightly lean to the newcomer, but for the most part I am indifferent. Joe is facing his possible waterloo for vocal support of the Iraq war, and as such many will say that payback is a bitch. But who is Ned Lamont; beyond the fact that he is a multi-millionaire? We really don’t know. What does he stand for? What has he been doing over the years about some of the pressing issues facing Connecticut’s residents? Is it enough to take out Joe Lieberman solely because of one issue? These questions and others will yield answers soon enough, but it’s Sharp-tongue that really takes the cake here.
When Ned Lamont’s membership in an exclusive all-white golf club was exposed, Sharptongue tried to defend the indefensible with his usual lies and verbal somersaults. It was as if Sharpton had forgotten that he himself had protested Bill Clinton’s similar membership. It‘s always the same thing with Al: talk from both sides of your tongue in an attempt to justify your contradictions. Unprincipled people usually tend to contradict themselves, because they continually stand on shaky political/philosophical ground. Long ago, native Indians in America- in reference to the lies of European Caucasians- would say,” white-man speaks with fork-tongue”; they must have invented that term for Al. There are so many forks in his tongue that you could probably equip a chain of new restaurants.
In 2001, Al Sharpton endorsed a candidate named Wellington Sharpe for the 40th City Council District; there were about seven candidates in the race-including Yvette Clarke, who eventually won. In the annual West Indian Day parade that year, Wellington Sharpe marched with Sharpton, Fernando Ferrer and Charles Barron. This group went up Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn-in front of millions of people. They were all (supposedly) some of Sharpton’s endorsees who were seeking office that year. Within 24 hours of that march, it was disclosed that Sharpton had also endorsed another candidate named Jean Vernet (Haitian-American) in the same race with Jamaica–born Sharpe. Wasn’t that cute? Don’t try picking up the tab for all this; trust me on that one.
In 2004, Al Sharpton endorsed a white male judicial candidate (Graham) over two female black candidates (Archer and Joseph), in a district where the population was about 75% minority. Graham won. This year he injects himself into in the 11th Congressional-a district with almost identical demographics- decrying David Yassky’s entrance into that race, because of “black-empowerment”. What a crock! Or should I say: crook?
Then, to make matters worse, he attempts to knock the frontrunner (polls) of that race Yvette Clarke, in order to justify his support for Carl Andrews. Now, even a bat (and also Wayne Barrett) can see that that Andrews is the most politically-corrupt of the four candidates, but that doesn’t faze AL; after all: “birds of a feather flock together, don’t they?”
He claims that Una Clarke (Yvette’s mother) was not out there marching and standing with them (protesters) during the Amadou Diallo police-brutality protests. This my friends turn out to be another big fat lie; and just as Al is obese, so too are his lies. Una marched for Diallo. The proof is irrefutable. Okay, maybe Al forgot; but near everyone knows that Una Clarke is perceived as a Caribbean-American fighter with lots of spunk. And then, even if she hadn’t marched, what does that have to do with Yvette and this race?
Let me examine this further. Last year in the mayoral primary, Al refused to endorse the Afro-American candidate C.Virginia Fields, partly because he said that "she wasn’t there for Amadou Diallo". Fine. Now he uses the same Diallo yardstick (albeit disingenuously) to support Carl Andrews over Yvette Clarke. Fine. But here is the problem: my sources say that Carl Andrews wasn’t arrested for civil-disobedience during the Diallo protests. He wasn’t there; period. Further, my sources say that Ed Towns wasn’t there for Diallo either, and Sharpton is going with Ed Towns over Charles Barron in the race for the 10th congressional district.What makes this even more interesting, is the fact that Charles Barron co-ordinated the Diallo protests outside One Police Plaza. Plus, Barron is always there for police-brutality incidents, no matter where.
Look folks: the truth is that Al sharpton-like many other black officials/activists- is full of shit. That’s why he is so big and fat; he is too full of it.
In 1991, Al Sharpton endorsed Colin Moore for City Council (45), and made a big stink about the fact that many whites- using Uncle Tom black officials- were ganging up on Moore, in an attempt to prevent him from winning the seat. This was at an event held for Moore at the Farragut Manor (now Crystal) on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. This was long before the petition phase of the primary. He promised to campaign with Moore and fight back this attempt to emasculate the “people’s attorney”. He promised to work the streets, and pound the avenue pavements. By the time the campaign got into full swing, Al was transformed into Osama bin Laden- since he must have found a cave in Afghanistan to hide out in. He disappeared like a junkie’s paycheck. Even today some of Colin’s supporters wonder who got to Al. Of course Colin Moore lost, but only by three hundred votes out of ten thousand cast. Back then Al had a little credibility; his visible support could have made the difference.
Look, there are countless stories of Sharpton’s flaws (even Jesse has some of those stories at his fingertips); the real problem is that too many black electeds are silent when he pulls his crap. They enter that “code of silence” plain that Maxwell Smart liked to go too. And like everything else, they don’t see the disservice they do us all.
Stay tuned-in folks.