Big Dogs Weblog

Stones from Reverend Sharptongue’s Glass House

by Big Dog on Apr 12, 2007 at 19:28 Uncategorized

I wrote this piece on Monday and submitted it to Human Events. They decided not to publish it because they were not doing pieces on Imus. Since I was out of state for a few days I could not publish it. Even though CBS and MSNBC have acted like the cowards they are and fired Imus, I think this is topical nonetheless. After the posts you will find the raw links (except for one) to the items I used for the post.

Recently Don Imus made a very stupid statement on his radio program when he referred to the women on the Rutgers basketball team as a bunch of “nappy headed hos.” Imus has been controversial for years but regardless of why he said this, he was wrong.

There have been many who have called for Imus to be fired. Is this really necessary or appropriate? The man made a mistake and he has shown remorse for his words but this is not good enough for those like Reverend Al Sharpton who has spent his life race baiting. Imus agreed to appear on Sharpton’s radio program (who even knew he had one) and Sharpton took him to task and was unrelenting in his attack. Imus agreed that Sharpton had the right to ask for his resignation but said that he was not going to quit. Sharpton repeated a number of times that Imus needed to go. He said that this would make him happy because Imus had committed a wrongful act and needed to pay. Sharpton feels that the only acceptable punishment for Imus is the loss of his job.

This all begs the question, if people have to pay for their transgressions, why does Sharpton still have a job and why is he still a Reverend? Let’s take a brief look at Sharpton’s history and see if he paid for his transgressions.

The Tawana Brawley case is one in which Sharpton really stepped in it. A young black girl alleged that she had been raped by a group of white men. Sharpton blamed a man named Steve Pagones but since the incident never happened, Pagones could not have done it. Pagnones ended up winning $345,000 in a defamation suit but Sharpton, unlike Imus, never apologized.

In 1987 Sharpton disparagingly referred to a group of Jewish people as Diamond Merchants, during an uproar after a Jewish man accidentally hit and killed a seven year old boy. Sharpton marched with about 400 protesters and a group surrounded a Jewish man and he was stabbed to death. His confessed killer was found not guilty and Sharpton never expressed sorrow for the slain “Diamond Merchant.”

In 1995 there was a landlord dispute that involved a white landlord and a black tenant after the landlord raised the tenant’s rent. Sharpton, no doubt sensing an opportunity to get more face time in the news, showed up to protest the rent increase. During his tirade he referred to the store owner as a “white interloper” and his colleague, Morris Powell, referred to the man as a “cracker.” The crowd began chanting to “burn down the Jew store” and on December 8th one of the protesters ran into the store and shot four employees and then set the place on fire. Seven employees died in the blaze.

It is obvious from these incidents that Al Sharpton is unworthy of the title Reverend and that he has spewed plenty of racist remarks through the years. Imus’ remarks actually pale in comparison to those Sharpton has spewed and yet this man has the unmitigated gall to take Imus to task. It appears that Sharpton’s feigned indignation is nothing more than sanctimonious prattle designed to allow him to do what he does best, race bait. His punishment, you ask? He makes money in his crusades against racism, has a radio program, and ran for president. This certainly is quite an interesting way for Sharpton to pay for all his wrongful acts.

What Imus said was wrong and there is no excusing it. The man apologized and should be allowed to serve his two week suspension and move on. The problem is, people like Sharpton need incidents like this to reaffirm their self worth and to continue their method of calculated race baiting in order to ensure personal gain. While there certainly still is racism in this country (from all colors) black people would be a lot better off without people like Sharpton constantly telling them just how bad they have it.

Yes Imus was wrong but with Sharpton’s history ole’ Al better make sure he is no where near his glass house while hurling those stones.

Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/US/9807/13/brawley.verdict.02/

http://suanews.com/articles/1993/thekillingofyankelrosenbaum.htm

http://www.ex-iwp.org/docs/1993/Crown%20Heights%20Riot%20Aftermath.htm

http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2003/06/20/sharpton/index.html?pn=2

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=6113

Boston Globe

Tags: Commentary