Al Sharpton
| One of the |
| And a dirty dozen more |
Reverend Alfred Charles "Al" Sharpton, Jr. (b. 1954) is an African-American activist, political commentator and Baptist preacher from New York City. He first became famous in the 1980s with his protests against racial injustice, his involvement in fanning the flames of the Tawana Brawley case[wp], and the Crown Heights riots. He is also an entrepreneur, founder of the National Youth Movement, National Action Network and was manager for soul singer James Brown.
Sharpton is a fiery orator and is often criticized by right-wingers for trying to grab the spotlight in prominent racial issues; basically, he calls them out on their racist crap and they don't like him for it.
That said, he has displayed a penchant for overblowing various issues, and has made anti-Semitic remarks. As a result, he's sometimes been compared to various ideologues like Pat Buchanan.[1]
After not having learned his lesson from the Brawley case, in 2006 he was among those screaming bloody murder about racism in the Duke lacrosse case[wp], which turned out to be the fabrication of a deeply disturbed individual and gross prosecutorial misconduct that ultimately resulted in the disbarment of North Carolina District Attorney Michael Nifong[wp]. After Whoopi Goldberg demanded that he apologize for contributing to the toxicity surrounding the case, he refused and instead claimed that he "wasn't involved" in any way.[2]
In the 1980s Sharpton worked as an informant for the FBI and the DEA and has been long associated with organized crime including the New York mafia families.[3]
Sharpton ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for president in 2004.
Sharpton has a show at MSNBC called PoliticsNation, and has also made frequent guest appearances on Fox News.
Since losing a large amount of weight, Sharpton has reportedly engaged in fat-shaming of his own supporters.[4]
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Derrick Z. Jackson, "Uneasy About Sharpton." Boston Globe: February 25, 2000.
- ↑ http://www.npr.org/blogs/newsandviews/2007/10/whoopi_to_sharpton_apologize_t_1.html
- ↑ http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/investigation/al-sharpton-764312?cid=free_tout
- ↑ Al Sharpton Is A Bigot… Against Fat People: The trim activist loves to mock the overweight