* *MEA CULPA * *

[Bicoastal]

I never thought I'd say it, but a discussion here on DU has changed my opinion:

Maybe I'm not giving the Rev. Al Sharpton enough credit.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8210863&mesg_id=8210863

I wrote this OP earlier, essentially slamming Sharpton for being a self-promoting loudmouth who turned simple controversies into media firestorms, all the while proving the RW with a big fat target. And on this point, I fully expected to be unmovable.

But then someone (DUer grantcart) said something that got me thinking: the guy is not perfect. Why SHOULD he be more perfect than anyone else in politics and in the media, some of whom have been wrong every day of their life, but receive less notoriety than Rev. Al? (Bill Kristol, for example, is a highly paid, well-respected man who has never been right about anything in his entire life.) But Sharpton is a community leader who considers it his duty to throw himself into racial controversies--and for some strange reason, in this society arguments involving race are less forgiving of mistakes than in almost any other type of conflict.

I won't list Sharpton's mistakes here. His faults and criticisms are well known: he's flamboyant. He's self-aggrandizing. He loves the media. But when there are SO many white priests, ministers, and other clergymen in the country who go on TV just as much, get just as politically involved, and make just as many mistakes--why do so many more White Americans respond with anger when they hear Sharpton's name than when they hear, say, the name Pat Robertson, a clown who genuinely HATES large segments of the population? Why is Reverend Al Sharpton the more controversial figure? He HAS been on the side of many issues I happen to agree with: Amadou Diallo. Sean Bell. Don Imus--who the hell would accuse Sharpton of overreacting in that case? Not me. I thought Al was on the right side in all of those cases, and more. But I'm a white person, and I guess MY own community has trained me well--to suffer from an allergic reaction whenever another "crazy" black community leader makes headlines.

There IS a double-standard, and perhaps I didn't realize it until now: it all goes back to Obama's campaign, when he stood by, then had to distance himself from his own controversial Reverend. Black people have a right to choose their community's leaders. Those leaders have a right to push back when they feel a wrong has been committed against their community. And yes, those leaders have a RIGHT to be angry, and flamboyant, and self-aggrandizing, or at least, they have a right to put themselves into positions where they might be called that. Should they be called names when they get it wrong while others skate by?

He IS an easy target for the opposition, and for racists. But if he doesn't place himself in those untenable positions who will? The very fact that horrible cartoon didn't slip through the media cracks very well may have been Sharpton's doing, and for that I commend him.

Mea Culpa. Al, I hardly knew ye.

[Cha]

1. You know we love us a

Mea Culpa!

[damonm]

2. Takes a BIG person to do this BiC - mad props!

[Captain Hilts]

3. He's a charleton and racist. And it's insulting that the media thinks that blacks and women need a

'leader'.

They don't.

And if they did, he's not it.

After living in Virginia, I'm totally sick of corrupt preachers - nearly all men - trying to use religion to prop up their ideas.

They put him up there to delegitimize the issues he's speaking about.

[Solomon]

5. This is such bull. Sharpton made one big mistake, years ago, and people

will never let him get over it. They also can't get over his hair. LOL

But the dude is smart, much smarter than Jessie Jackson ever was and has done a lot of good, even if some people refuse to acknowledge it. Don't blame him if racists want to insist he is the "leader" of black people. He never said he was, we never said he was. People just try and use him whenever they can because he ruined his credibilibty with that one mistake which must have been move than 20 years ago by now.

[Captain Hilts]

31. Yeah, he rounded up women for James Brown's road trips and is a man of God...

Really. There's a level of hypocrisy that only he and so many other Men of God can achieve.

By the way, I LOVED his '04 convention speech.

And I was in Brooks Brothers with him in DC once. I don't hate him, I just resent the media choosing him as a 'spokesman'.

[genna]

47. Jesse Jackson wasn't a part of this discussion. He has made his fair share of mistakes.

The media needs to assign itself a leader. If a man of God wants to expose himself to our society's judgement, so be it.

I tend to take comfort in so many preachers taking up the social gospel and doing their best here on earth, to make social justice real.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[firedupdem]

16. Really?

And what is Al doing to purposely mislead the master? I'm seeing some strange shit on this board.

[Beacool]

43. I think that you mean "charlatan", sweetie.

But I totally agree with you.


:hi:

[Spazito]

4. Wow! That is one powerful Mea Culpa!

I had not thought of the criticism of Reverend Sharpton in that light until reading this but my eyes are now open. Thank you.

[ieoeja]

6. Kick

[grantcart]

7. Love you and your ability to stand up and change your position

[rvablue]

8. This is a cool post and I just hope that

the limited few who were hurling negative labels at you for expressing yourself earlier will read this.

None of us are perfect in our assessments. What you posted before, while I didn't entirely agree with it, was your opinion.

But it looks like you are open-minded enough to take in new ideas and opinions and reformulate your own. That's a sign of a TRUE PROGRESSIVE in my book.

Hopefully you'll get a few mea culpas back....but somehow I doubt it.

[firedupdem]

9. Very nice post. n/t

[Aloha Spirit]

10. Bravo. However, I take exception to flamboyance being a fault ;-)

This lady was pretty flamboyant:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ann_Richards

[DevonRex]

11. You're such a nice person to say this. Brave, too. Thank you. nt

[AspenRose]

12. Kinda sad that it took a white person to convince you

Plenty of longtime blacks on DU spoke up on that thread and were dismissed.

If that's what it takes, though, then so be it.

[BlooInBloo]

15. Pfft. Everybody knows that only white folks can be trusted to make calls on racial matters...

Because *that's* worked so well for America.

:rofl:

[Bicoastal]

17. Pardon me, but I don't keep a mental list of DU'ers sorted by race.

You may not believe me, but I frankly had no idea what ANYONE's race was on that thread. Why should it matter?

[AspenRose]

20. Because there is a history of black opinion being discounted on this board.

For example, all you have to do is look at anything involving past "tar baby" controversies discussed here.

Blacks would say up and down that it IS a racist expression, only to have intellectual whites shout them down and accuse them of being overly sensitive.

EffieBlack said TODAY in a thread that if a majority of blacks found something racist, then it IS racist. Sure enough, there were apologists there to tell her, a black woman, that she was WRONG.

Yesterday, there was a white poster telling people to get a fucking grip re: the NY Post cartoon. (Gee, appreciate the cultural sensitivity, there.)

When someone posted the "Black Love" cover of Ebony magazine, sure enough, a white poster was there to provide dissent about the concept of black love.

It gets old. VERY old.

This is why blacks count on progressive whites to speak up. Because more often times than not, especially on issues regarding what is offensive and what isn't, whites will listen to other whites before they'll listen to a "hypersensitive" black person. I think that's sad, but like I said before, whatever it takes. I'm glad you changed your position.

[sniffa]

21. .

:thumbsup:

[Bicoastal]

26. A lot of people on that OP disagreed with me--I'll wager that some were black and some were white.

grantcart is white? If you're certain about that, it's good to know, I guess. But he could just have easily have been black.

It was his argument I was responding to, not his skin color. And in any case, HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?

[AspenRose]

28. Relax. I'm trying to give you something to think about, if you'd stop being defensive

long enough.

And for the third time, *I'm glad you changed your position.*

[Bicoastal]

30. Ah. OK.

:thumbsup:

[Number23]

32. No one deserves this more than you.

Fantastic post. And every single word you said is the God's honest truth.

[BlooInBloo]

36. It's good being the white foxes - getting to guard the henhouse of racism....

My all-time fav was DUers saying that Michael Richards wasn't being racist when calling the black audience members "nigger" over and over. That's was a true gem.

In fact, it really ought to go in the How To Be A Better White Person Manual. Last I checked, it only had a section on "As Long As You Don't Say "Nigger", It's Not Racist". That clearly needs to be updated.

[genna]

50. You are on a roll and in rare form today.

[fishwax]

38. .

:thumbsup:

[Beacool]

42. I get what you are saying,

but it's the manufactured outrage by some that people object to. This idiotic cartoon wouldn't have raised an eyebrow if Sharpton hadn't stirred everyone into a frenzy, as has been his wont on too many occasions. When I first saw it, I didn't get the impression that the cartoonist equated the dead chimp to Obama. If he had drawn a chimp out of nowhere maybe, but the chimp story was THE headline of the day. The guy always draws his cartoons based on that day's major headline and it always skewers the Dems since he works for a right wing rag. I took it to mean that the stimulus bill was such a mess that even a monkey could have written it. If anything, I thought that it was making fun of Congress.

On the other hand, change the word black to women and the dismissal of too many of us who objected to the sexism exhibited in the primaries and GE and, to quote Bill, I feel your pain.

;)

[AspenRose]

48. With all due respect,

People can see something offensive and complain about it without taking direct orders from someone.

In other words, we don't need Sharpton or anyone else to tell the black/progressive community when something is offensive and 'whip us into a frenzy to give us our marching orders.' We're quite capable of reaching that conclusion by ourselves, thank you.

Sharpton didn't manufacture any outrage that wouldn't have happened on its own. It was already the talk on syndicated black radio shows before Sharpton got maximum exposure in the media.

[Beacool]

53. I didn't mean to infer that as a group AAs took marching orders from Sharpton.

I'm just saying that around this area I didn't hear a blip in the local news or other papers about it until Sharpton got involved. If black talk radio was already talking about it, then I stand corrected. Since I don't listen to it, I was unaware that this issue had been brought up by other people.

:-)

[genna]

49. It is usually race that will make a liberal/progressive group to split anyway

I was watching KO talk to Jonathan Altermann during the primary say that Obama needed some known NY Jews to speak out in favor of his stance on Israel. Of course in my mind's eye, that was offensive. Obama's word on his own was not good enough. He had to have someone else testify before his record spoke for him. I recognize with Jews there is the complicating factor of religion and persecution, but it is still the ambassador problem.


I felt that same anger when some quarters were saying it took Bill Moyers to interview Rev. Wright in order to explain perspective. Otherwise an average American would not be able to hear the entire message and be able to discern what it meant. Even when Rev. Wright came out and showed his entire butt to the National Press Club, I heard people trying to interpret what it meant for him. How many well intentioned black preachers had to come out and humiliate themselves (no not me...I've never heard this message before in my life), before it was understood that was kettle of fish we didn't want to explore?


Even though I understand we need an ambassador of good will between our communities in order to make them hear us, I still find myself resenting the fact that I MUST explain myself. It is not as true for the younger generation as the older generation and it will probably be less true in future generations. But I still don't understand, why the onus is always on my side whether I am in power or out of favor.


Communication works two ways.

[Bicoastal]

25. delete

delete

[grantcart]

34. who you calling white?

:mad:

Oh yeah your right.

:silly:

[AspenRose]

37. Silly rabbit

:spank:

[BlooInBloo]

14. Two black people every white American can name: Al and Tawana.

[firedupdem]

18. up thread he's now shucking and jiving....I've seen it all. n/t

[sniffa]

19. He's also being a charleton up thread

[firedupdem]

22. And that comment is just as nasty as yours. I'm still wondering

what lies he's telling so he won't get in trouble with the master?

[sniffa]

23. You're not too quick

[firedupdem]

24. Where my ethnicity is concerned and tossed about...probably not. n/t

[sniffa]

Ok then

[BlooInBloo]

35. self-delete.

[Beacool]

44. I think that Sniffa was being sarcastic.

;)

[Hell Hath No Fury]

27. Al had a bit of an ephifany -

after he was stabbed -- he really came a long way and changed my mind abot who he was.

He was also one of the prime voices of what was really going on with Iraq, WMD, and BushCo. (along with Kuch) during the 2004 Democratic Presidential primary -- he told a lot of truths during those debates and appearances. His speech at the convention was a show-stopper and true, true, true.

As he said yesterday -- he is an "activist", and that requires the ability to get the attention needed from the press.

The one thing I would say is he shouldn't be the only voice heard on AA issues -- I think a larger pool of voices is badly needed.

[genna]

51. I think successive generations learned from how badly denigrated Al and Jesse are

by most MSM and liberals. What the right does to them is the least of their worries?


I believe the next generation uses its influence to coalesce around specific problems. When an issue arises that demands a response, the kind of leaders you are thinking about will arise on their own.

[Zodiak]

29. This is why you are a great DUer

And unlike what some may have said, you did present courage concerning the topic of racism, and like what Holder said, that courage led to a dialogue and "stuff was resolved".

Thank you for that courage, and thank you for having an open mind and a deaf ear to the baiters.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

33. Never, never 'eat your own'

eat the other side first

[cooolandrew]

39. I don't think Sharpton calls it right every time but this occasion he's completely correct >

Without his voice out there how much more would the suffering of African Americans of been. The election of President Obama does now put a new lens on some of his actions for some people, which is positive for everyone.

[RepublicanElephant]

40. Bicoastal......

:yourock:

[dalaigh lllama]

41. Now this is what makes DU such a great place

Not only for the up-to-dates news that might not hit the airwaves otherwise, but for the viewpoints of DUers that can lead us into personal epiphanies.

I think many of us consider ourselves "enlightened," but I can say personally I've had many of my unthought-through suppositions overturned by reading here.

Thanks to Bicoastal and grantcart for exemplifying the best of DU.

[Brewman_Jax]

45. Well said

:kick:

Double standard is right. Even the disgraced Ted Haggard doesn't generate a fraction of the rage that Sharpton does, though he's earned it.

[olkaz]

46. Seriously? Over Al freaking Sharpton?

Lil Wayne has more clarity on this subject than the majority of DU.

[genna]

52. I commend you. I've have had my opinion tossed overboard by reading here too.

You manned up.

I didn't do a separate subject like you did here. But I do cry Uncle when I've been bested in an argument.

I'm glad we agree that it is best to say so and not be worried about face saving.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

54. Rev. Sharpton is experiencing one hell of a turnaround.

I don't blame you for coming to the prior conclusion, but Rev. Sharpton is actively seeking to right his past image. He's been a very strong, reliable advocate on many issues lately, including education.

[druidity33]

55. i highly recommend

that you read the short book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.

Your initial responses to Rev. Sharpton, like mine (I grew up on LI and remember Tawana), are a product of conditioning so deep i know I didn't even know i was affected. Gladwell has a way of contemporizing phenomena insightfully and explaining the thought process that is rather liberating.

A few years ago my brain went through the same comparisons you are describing in your OP. Today i have to say i have a high degree of respect for Rev Sharpton. I recognize, like you, that we are all human and make mistakes... but i do believe Rev Al works mostly from the heart. He's a passionate person.

I gotta admire that. Even if it does get him into hot water sometimes...


:)