I’ve long been critical of Rev. Al Sharpton for not confronting and speaking out against Fox News’ race baiting over the Trayvon Martin killing and the acquittal of George Zimmerman. But last night, Sharpton took the bullies by the horns and leveled a no-holds-barred blast at Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh that was nonetheless dignified and restrained – which is more than you can say about any of those racial hate mongers, even as they have deliberately maligned Sharpton for being some kind of race hustler and “grievance” monger.
Sharpton said:
Some right-wingers have gone into overdrive to push the most negative stereotypes of the African American community for their own gain.
To many in the African American community, the killing of that teenager (Trayvon Martin) is emblematic of a grossly unjust system… from stop and frisk, to disproportionate drug laws to racially motivated sentencing, including death sentes. That is the conversation that the Rush, Hannity, O’Reilly crowd don’t want to have. Instead, they are dancing as fast as they can to change the subject.
Sharpton included some of the more blatant examples of O’Reilly’s hostility to African Americans including his now-famous Election Day remarks in which he suggested that Barack Obama won re-election thanks to minority welfare queen slackers:
The demographics are changing. It’s not a traditional America any more. And there are 50% of the voting public who want stuff. They want things. And who is going to give them things? President Obama.
Sharpton continued:
We need a real conversation about justice in the country, not the same old right-wing divide and conquer garbage. Bill O’Reilly, the Willie Horton stuff has got to go.
It’s beyond shocking how Bill O’Reilly has used the Martin killing and Zimmerman verdict to gin up racial hostility. What’s even worse is that it’s being done with Fox News’ likely encouragement. Because it’s not just O’Reilly and Hannity. The likes of Geraldo Rivera, Todd Starnes, and even Chris Wallace have joined the game with a similar message: African Americans should blame themselves, not George Zimmerman for Trayvon Martin's death.
So let’s hope that Sharpton keeps up the pressure because it’s needed now more than ever.
@joe Marsh: you’re mixing Joseph West up with somebody else. If you spent as much time on this site as you claim, you’d know for a fact that Joseph doesn’t need to resort to obscenity to get his point across. You on the other hand seem to come here only to set fires.
I do appreciate your use of euphemisms, though. Profanity is pretty boring all round.
That said… Sharpton is definitely an opportunist, and he does have some racism in his closet, but it’s funny how the GOP keeps pulling out instances from 15-20 years ago when they accuse him of being a race baiter. It’s almost like they don’t have anything more recent than that.
That’s still racist in full context, anyways.
And I’m seconding everyone else who already said it- If Fox News, Limbaugh, etc. cared about race relations, past thinking some “we care” speeches will get the black/latino vote… they’d be showing that. Fox News doesn’t care that Limbaugh’s using the N word on his show now. They don’t care that he’s saying slavery was something blacks requested to be put through. They don’t care about any of his schtick. They also don’t care about similarly racist comments from Imus, Starnes, Savage, Bruce, Ingraham… not to mention Brietbart, Bozell, Drudge, Malkin…
I can go on and on.
Oh, and the N-Word’s back in style over at Fox Nation. I’ve found several threads about Fox’s African American targets where if it can beat Livefyre’s filter, it can stay.
Clean your own house before you criticize the state of someone else’s. Just sayin’.
Of course you don’t disappoint: your logic is as twisted as usual: one isn’t allowed to express an opinion on Sharpton unless one bashes the Fox crew in the same breath.
FYI, I was bashing Hannity et. al. (well, mostly Hannity) for many years here, long before you showed up. I don’t spend much time at it now, because there are more important things to do with my life, and yes, you are right, he and the other FNC slime and Limbaugh will never ever change.
Since you Mr. West obviously have a impaired brain, let me simplify what I said: I agree with Sharpton’s message, but the messenger is a fraud and a charlatan! He’s fooled you all into thinking he has changed, but I don’t buy it.
So go right on trying to make him into a saint! (Do they have saints in his religion… whatever that is?)
And you have the effin’ audacity to keep harping on Sharpton? Get back to us when you see the right-wing blowhards make some LEGITIMATE effort at changing their divisive images.
What greatly disturbs me is the way so many on the left believe Sharpton is some kind of holy preacher who never race-baited, fear-mongered or defamed others himself.
Your post this morning only proves how well Sharpton has rehabbed himself over the years, completely pulling the wool over the eyes of virtually the entire politically-correct progressive establishment.
I’m usually in agreement with 99 percent of what’s posted here, but I’m old enough to remember the real Sharpton.
Joe
