Al Sharpton

The Reverend Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American politician, minister, and civil rights activist. A Pentecostal, Sharpton was the first major black presidential candidate of the 21st century to run for the Democratic Party nomination, doing so in 2004.

Controversy

Critics of Sharpton accuse him of being a profiteering racial agitator, as evidenced by the Tawana Brawley hoax, and Hurricane Katrina accusations, inserting himself into instances of racial tension in order to increase his own popularity, often making situations more tense.

Related Topics:
Tawana Brawley - Hurricane Katrina

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However, to his supporters Sharpton is a loyal defender of the under-represented poor and disenfranchised who has been supporting his community for 30 years.

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Tawana Brawley

In the Tawana Brawley case, a 15-year-old black girl was found smeared with feces, lying in a garbage bag, her clothing torn and burned and with various slurs and epithets written on her body in charcoal. Brawley claimed that she had been assaulted and raped by six white men, some of them police officers, on November 28, 1987 in the town of Wappingers Falls, New York.

Related Topics:
Tawana Brawley - Rape - White men - November 28 - 1987 - Wappingers Falls, New York

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The FBI was called in, and Brawley was questioned about what had happened. She claimed she had been raped by unidentified white men. When a rape test came back negative, she changed her story, saying that she hadn't been raped, but had been sexually abused. Further examinations revealed that Brawley had received no real injuries, nor did she show signs of exposure. Testimony from her schoolmates also indicated that she had been at a local party during the time of her supposed abduction.

Related Topics:
FBI - Sexually abused

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The incident made headlines nationwide, and her cause was taken up by Sharpton, along with Alton H. Maddox and C. Vernon Mason. The three turned the incident into a media sensation, and began making outrageous statements. For instance, they identified New York prosecutor Steven Pagones as one of the men involved, despite the lack of any evidence to this, and they likewise attempted to implicate higher officials in the State government.

Related Topics:
Alton H. Maddox - C. Vernon Mason - Prosecutor - Steven Pagones

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Accusations flew in both directions; an ex-boyfriend of Brawley's told Newsday that Brawley had made the attack up, and admitted so to him. A grand jury was convened, and after seven months of examining police and medical records, the jury determined that Brawley's assault was a hoax.

Related Topics:
Newsday - Grand jury

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The reason Brawley faked the attack is not known for sure, but the most likely explanation is that Brawley, who skipped school to visit her incarcerated boyfriend the day of her disappearance, staged the abduction to avoid punishment from her stepfather.

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In 1998 Pagones was awarded $150 million in a suit for a defamation of character that he brought against Sharpton, Maddox, and Mason.

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Alleged bigotry

It is alleged that Sharpton throughout his political career has called whites "crackers" and Jews "diamond merchants," "white interlopers," and "bloodsucking Jews." Sharpton's criticism of black Marxists extended to them carrying "that German cracker's book under their arms."

Related Topics:
Crackers - Jew - Marxists

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It is also alleged that after calling a Jewish shopkeeper a "white interloper," he looked on while an associate of his suggested the Jew's shop should be burned down. When a black member of the crowd did so, killing several including himself, Sharpton initially denied having been present. When confronted with a video tape showing his presence, he said: "What's wrong with denouncing white interlopers?" Other such controversies center on purported offenses by Jews against black Americans, although in one case it is alleged he verbally attacked Korean shopkeepers. http://www.nationalreview.com/20Mar00/nordlinger032000.html http://www.digitas.harvard.edu/~salient/issues/990415/upfront.htm http://www.salon.com/col/guest/1998/01/05guest.html http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york200401120838.asp http://www.mises.org/story/1560

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http://www.villagevoice.com/news/9852,noel,3098,1.html

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http://www.jewishpost.com/jewishpost/jpn201g.html http://www.city-journal.org/html/12_3_why_blacks.html

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http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1995/12/09/MN74133.DTL

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