Townhall reported today that Sharpton, angry that the supposed non-partisan NAACP was not attracting enough Republicans to its forums, lashed out at the Republican Party's lack of pandering.
"We can only assume you weren't courting us," Sharpton said. "Republicans have to lay out their policies and court the African-American vote."
Obviously, with the detailed plans the Republican presidential candidates have thus far laid out on health care, the war in Iraq, homeland security, taxes, and immigration, Sharpton didn't mean "Republicans have to lay out their policies and court the African-American vote." He meant Republicans have to court the African-American vote. They have already laid out their policies, quite publicly and often.
These tactics are nothing new; in 2004, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond called on the African-American community to oust President George W. Bush because he and his fellow Republicans "preach neutrality and practice racial division."
At the time, Bush's secretary of state was Colin Powell, and his national security advisor was Condoleezza Rice — both African-American. Rice is now, of course, the secretary of state.
Between the abhorrent name-calling practiced by the NAACP (they repeatedly insulted Bush, and compared cabinet members to the Taliban) and its status prohibiting it from participating in partisanship, it was clear that Bond was the one that was "preach[ing] neutrality and practic[ing] racial division."
Sharpton's attempts to force African-Americans to vote against the GOP unless they pander to self-appointed leaders like himself sets African-American political participation back decades, by removing their voting freedom and individuality.
Sharpton's antics are never harmless stunts. It's probably why Jason Whitlock, a columnist for the Kansas City Star who is African-American, called Sharpton and his buddy Jesse Jackson "terrorists" after Sharpton led the charge against Don Imus, leading to Imus's firing.
"Because that's what Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are," Whitlock told MSNBC's Tucker Carlson. "They go around the country lighting fires and dividing people, and then start picking everyone's pocket."
Whitlock, known for his often courageous honesty, was actually being quite literal. Nearly everyone remembers how in 1991, after a Hassidic Jew accidentally ran over an African-American child in Crown Heights, Sharpton led the anti-Semitic riots that ensued, during which rabbinical student Yankel Rosenbaum, surrounded by a crowd chanting "kill the Jews", was stabbed to death by Sharpton's followers. At the time, Sharpton's term for Jews was "diamond merchants."
And who can forget what happened in 1995, when the Jewish owner of Freddy's Fashion Mart in Harlem raised the rent on his African-American subtenant? The Jewish owner was forced to raise the rent, of course, because the building's African-American landlord raised the rent on the Jewish owner of Freddy's Fashion Mart.
But that didn't stop Sharpton from rushing to the scene and shouting "We will not stand by and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business."
Sharpton was successful; the "white interloper" was, thanks to Sharpton's efforts, unable to expand his business. That is because one of Sharpton's followers burned down the store after shooting four employees. Seven employees were killed in the fire. It was a testament to Sharpton's influence, because it happened right after the Sharpton-led mob outside the store shouted "Burn down the Jew store!"
Sharpton's oppression of the African-American community is deplorable. And the candidates who don't kowtow to him or serve his agenda should be commended.
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