Freedom Rider: Don’t March with Sharpton

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

“His job is to keep black people in line while making it appear that he is leading a popular movement.”

The Reverend Al Sharpton is King Rat. That simple fact must never be forgotten, particularly in this moment of organized resistance to police violence. Black Agenda Report did not bestow that moniker on Sharpton for the purpose of amusement. He is a dangerous man who has shrewdly placed himself in a position to act as a supposed power broker on behalf of black people. Instead he actively works against the interests of the masses of people whose aspirations he claims to represent.

In the past ten years, Sharpton has taken money from Republican operative Roger Stone, accompanied Newt Gingrich on a public campaign for school privatization and still manages to appear as spokesperson for black families struggling for justice for victims of police brutality. Sharpton adroitly plays both sides. He parlays his image as the go-to-guy for black people and has credibility he doesn’t deserve. He is now a de facto White House staffer, so it is odd that his organization, the National Action Network, will lead a national march against police violence in Washington on December 13th.

Sharpton has the president’s ear, or so we are told. Why then does he need to lead a march? He ought to be able to tell the president and the attorney general that they must establish a process for investigating and prosecuting killer police officers. Of course, this simple solution assumes that there is anything honest about Sharpton or that Obama has any true respect for him or concern for black lives.

“The gentrifiers, displacers and political crooks all kissed Sharpton’s ring.”

The real reason he is leading this march is to contain black anger and to keep it from spilling outside of proscribed channels of official authority. That is Sharpton’s hustle in a nutshell. His job is to keep black people in line while making it appear that he is leading a popular movement. The subterfuge makes this march in particular a grotesque mockery.

Political wheeling and dealing are inherently incompatible with movement politics. Just two months ago, Sharpton held a lavish birthday party replete with testimonials from politicians and sponsorships from AT&T, Forest City Ratner realty, GE Asset Management, and Walmart among others. The gentrifiers, displacers and political crooks all kissed Sharpton’s ring and that is bad news indeed.

Accolades from politicians are usually a sign of untrustworthy character and Sharpton is no exception to this rule. Right wing Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo said of Sharpton “He has grown immensely over the years. He is no longer New York’s Rev. Al Sharpton; he’s the nation’s Rev. Al Sharpton, and the nation is better for it.” Mayor de Blasio called him a “blessing for the city.” High praise from this governor ought to be the political kiss of death for anyone claiming progressive credentials. Mayor Bill de Blasio used outrage over stop and frisk to win his office, but since that time has acted counter to his supporters’ expectations, including expanding the discredited “broken windows” theory of black harassment by police.

At least de Blasio does not have a personal fortune to buy Sharpton’s loyalty like former mayor Michael Bloomberg. Sharpton’s National Action Network took $110,000 from Bloomberg’s astro turf, pro-charter school Education Equality Project and got lots of love in return. "In all fairness, Al Sharpton has been an awful lot more of a calming influence on the city and helper to the city than most people give him credit for,” said the former mayor in 2009. Anyone called a calming influence by Bloomberg should not be trusted with a movement seeking justice from police brutality or the brutality of Sharpton’s corporate sponsors.

“If Sharpton’s relationships with the president, governor and mayor don’t result in accountability for murder, then his march is a farce.”

The cure for police violence isn’t complicated. It isn’t true that police who brutalize and kill black people with impunity are “badly trained.” They are trained quite well in the ideology of white supremacy and become homicidal at the sight of a black face. They don’t need training or body cameras. They need to be punished when they commit murder and if Sharpton’s relationships with the president, governor and mayor don’t result in accountability for murder, then his march is a farce.

Sharpton has gotten a pass for far too long. The moment is ripe for the creation of a new and much needed mass movement. The age of Obama has rightly become discredited and the use of Sharpton as a cover is one of the reasons why that is so. There are new leaders emerging who have integrity and concern for black people foremost in their minds and hearts. They are demanding that the president use his power to take action that will get results. The age of Sharpton needs to be over as well.

Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well as at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.

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