Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

The Rev. Al Sharpton (left) and Tawana Brawley

Occasionally, I'm asked to write about the ongoing problems in America's black precincts. Since I don't believe that I'm the person who should be writing about that subject, I've usually refrained.

But after watching the buffoonish and incendiary Rev. Al Sharpton dance once again--this time on the grave of Michael Brown, I've decided to throw in my proverbial two cents.

While there are many social issues that have plagued African-Americans for decades, I think that Sharpton sums up best what's going wrong in black America today.

How's that? Sharpton's a classic race hustler. He's made his living by portraying blacks as an oppressed minority held down by the jackboots of racist, redneck whites who want to eliminate African-Americans from the United States.

Remember the infamous Tawana Brawley case? Brawley was a 15-year-old African American girl who went missing from her home in Wappingers Falls, New York in late November, 1987. When she was finally found, she was barely conscious and her body was smeared with excrement. And the letters KKK were scribbled on her body along with the words "nigger" and "bitch."

Brawley certainly looked like the victim of a vicious hate crime perpetrated by white supremacists. She claimed that she had been abducted and raped by three white men, one of whom she described as a police officer. One of the people who immediately took up Brawley's cause was the Rev. Al Sharpton.

The incident generated national outrage. Certainly, that sort of crime was all-too common in the old Jim Crow south where blacks were routinely persecuted and harassed. But in liberal and progressive New York? Was Jim Crow still alive there as well?

After an extensive investigation, it turned out that Brawley had fabricated the story. And she admitted it. She had run away from home to get away from her authoritarian mother who would often beat her because of her rebellion. And to stave off the consequences of her flight from home, Brawley devised the abduction-rape scheme.

Brawley's confession didn't faze the opportunistic Sharpton who exploited the incident to promote himself as a civil rights crusader against white racism. Though Brawley admitted the hoax, Sharpton continued to claim that she was the victim of white racists.

Then there was the infamous Crown Heights riot that took place in Brooklyn, New York in 1991. That riot began after a young black boy was struck and killed by a car driven by an Orthodox Jew. 

Tensions were already high between the two groups before the accident. Blacks felt threatened and exploited by the Jews, and some even believed that the seven-year-old victim had been purposely targeted by the driver. 

Like the Brawley affair, Sharpton saw his opportunity and jumped in, escalating tensions by calling Jews "diamond merchants" who took money out of black communities and put nothing back in. Sharpton's rhetoric provided the fuel for the riots that ensued that led to the death of an Orthodox Jew named Yankel Rosenbaum who was viciously beaten and stabbed to death.

The Crown Heights riots lasted three days and resulted in extensive property damage as well as several arrests, beatings and Rosenbaum's murder. And many of the rioters that caused trouble in Crown Heights came from out of town.

Does that sound familiar? It sounds like Ferguson, Mo. And who incited the riots in Ferguson? None other than the Rev. Al Sharpton who accused Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson of shooting Michael Brown in cold blood because Brown was black.

And even though an independent grand jury exonerated Wilson after a lengthy investigation, Sharpton continues to scream that Wilson targeted Brown because he was black. 

What makes Sharpton so dangerous isn't just his own racism which is obvious. He's a phony reverend who's taken seriously by many folks who believe that he's a legitimate spokesman for Christianity and the church. He's not and he never was. He's a con artist who's made a fortune by exploiting the ignorance and base instincts of gullible people who believe every word he says.

And so, unless and until blacks and whites decide to stop listening to buffoons such as Sharpton--who's only in it for himself--then race relations will continue to worsen in America. 

Nearly 2,000 years ago, the apostle Jude warned the early church to watch out for clever impostors who would sneak in and promote their own agendas: "Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.  For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord." (Jude 1:3-4)

That's Sharpton. He uses the church of Jesus Christ to glorify and enrich himself. He's a false preacher and a false prophet. And he should be soundly condemned and shunned at all costs.