Booker T. Washington once said:
'There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs - partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs'.
Which black mainstream figure came to your mind as you read that quote? As I read it, I thought of Al Shaprton.
It cannot be denied that the Reverend Sharpton has a charismatic personality and is, in some circles, a powerful person. But in recent years it seems to me that he's known more for his contraversial statements than he is for anything else.
Take the 1995 'Freddy's Fashions' incident. The owner of Freddy's (a Jewish owned discount clothing store in Harlem, NY) reportedly asked it's subtenant (a black owned record store) to either pay more rent or find new premises. The owner of the record store refused to pay. So, the owner of Freddy's started the process to have him evicted.
Enter Al Sharpton. His organization got the word out and organized a picket line outside the store. The Reverend was quoted as saying 'We will not stand by and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business'. His followers were of the same mentality. People who crossed the picket line was spat upon and called names like 'Uncle Tom' and 'traitor'. One man reportedly said "Burn down the Jew store".
Funnily enough, that's exactly what happened. One morning in December '95, someone burst into Freddy's, yelling 'It's no now. All blacks out." Then he shot 4 employeesm and torched the place. Seven people, including the gunman, died. Did Rev, Sharpton apologize for his participation in the incident? No. He simply said "I am a preacher, not a prophet. I could not know in advance what this would come to".
More recently he accosted former Vermont governor Howard Dean. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't care for Howard much, but...what Al said to him was just ridiculous.
Just before the Iowa caucuses when Howard was the front runner for the Democratic party nomination, (fellow nominee) Sharpton demanded "do you have a member of your cabinet that was black or brown?"
Deans answer was a mumbled "no, we did not" - and the Reverend Sharpton looked exceedingly pleased with himself that he had, once again, managed to show America what horrific inequalities Whitey is still perpetuating on the black population.
Never mind that only one half of one percent of Vermont's population is black. Never mind that in order to hire a black person Dean would have had to turned down numerous (and probably more qualified) white applicants and might even have had to hire out-of-state. Forget all the rational reasons for Howard not having a person of color on his cabinet; rationality doesn't excuse the fact that Howard Dean had an all white cabinet.
It's things like the Dean incident that really piss me off. Al Sharpton is, as Booker T so eloquently said, making a living out of spotlighting the wongs (percieved and otherwise) done to the black citizens of America. Are his actions what Martin Luther King had in mind when he led the civil rights movement? Is this what people marched on Washington for? I don't think so.
The comedian Chris Rock had a few lines about 'Niggas vs Black People'. According to him, Black people are decent people who work hard to feed their families and pay their bills. Niggas don't. Black people play by the rules. Niggas think they should get a medal just for taking care of their own babies. Black people go to the movies just to watch the show. Niggas go to shoot the place up.
(IMO)The Reverend Sharpton's attitude is starting to represent the latter demographic.
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