Al Sharpton's “no peace” was an implicit threat of civil unrest

Al Sharpton’s Baltimore “No justice, no peace” finally blew into an urban riot.

Excerpt:

‘No justice, no peace.” In Baltimore now, they’ve got both. When Al Sharpton popularized the chant, “No justice, no peace,” it was unmistakably clear that “no peace” was an implicit threat of civil unrest. Not civil disobedience, as practiced by Martin Luther King Jr. Civil unrest. Civil unrest can come in degrees. It might be a brief fight between protesters and the cops. It might be someone throwing rocks through store windows. Or it might be more than that. Whenever groups gathered in large numbers to start the “no justice, no peace” demonstrations and listen to incitements against “the police,” we would hear mayors, politicians, college presidents and American presidents say they “understood the anger.” They all assumed that any civil unrest that resulted would be, as they so often say, “containable.” Meaning—acceptable.

Comment: Image source. Rights. Modified with.

Al Sharpton's "history of noncompliance with tax obligations"

Every for-profit enterprise started by Al Sharpton has been shut down in at least one jurisdiction for failure to pay taxes

Excerpt:

So far, every for-profit enterprise started by Al Sharpton and known to National Review Online has been shut down in at least one jurisdiction for failure to pay taxes, a review of public records in New York and Delaware reveals. Records show that Sharpton’s beleaguered for-profit entities often overlap and intertwine, some sharing ties with the reverend’s nonprofit organization, National Action Network. Their financial records are copious, confusing, and sometimes outright bizarre, and together, they depict persistent financial woes for Sharpton, who also personally owes New York State nearly $596,000, according to active tax warrants. “He clearly appears — based on the information that’s available to us — to have a history of noncompliance with tax obligations,” says Bernadette Schopfer, the director of taxation at New York’s Maier Markey & Justic, a certified public-accounting firm that has had no dealings with Sharpton or National Action Network. “It appears that [Sharpton] does not file [taxes for his businesses], and then opens up something else. At all the entities we see he has opened up, he has not been compliant with the obligations of the owner of a business. . . . He’s either willful in his behavior, or he’s just sloppy.”

Comment: Buds with the Pres ... see earlier post.

Al Sharpton's Tax Dodge

Questions About Sharpton’s Finances Accompany His Rise in Influence

Excerpt:

Mr. Sharpton has regularly sidestepped the sorts of obligations most people see as inevitable, like taxes, rent and other bills. Records reviewed by The New York Times show more than $4.5 million in current state and federal tax liens against him and his for-profit businesses. And though he said in recent interviews that he was paying both down, his balance with the state, at least, has actually grown in recent years. His National Action Network appears to have been sustained for years by not paying federal payroll taxes on its employees. With the tax liability outstanding, Mr. Sharpton traveled first class and collected a sizable salary, the kind of practice by nonprofit groups that the United States Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration recently characterized as “abusive,” or “potentially criminal” if the failure to turn over or collect taxes is willful. Mr. Sharpton and the National Action Network have repeatedly failed to pay travel agencies, hotels and landlords. He has leaned on the generosity of friends and sometimes even the organization, intermingling its finances with his own to cover his daughters’ private school tuition.

Comment: If NYTimes artcile won't load, also here. Image source.  Just for fun ... images of Al and Obama together.

When Al Sharpton came to town

Lots of rhetoric, no problem-solving from Sharpton and other leaders
Excerpt:

So Al Sharpton came to town. Didn't see him when the grandmother was killed in the crossfire. Or when little Antonio Johnson died while doing homework. Or on any weekend when violence seems to be an ordinary occurrence. Why? Well you don't need a Harvard degree to figure it out. He calls himself a "shining light" but the truth is, he and many leaders are dim bulbs in a dysfunctional society. There's lots of rhetoric, gesturing and catchy phrases but no positive, productive problem-solving. No looking inward. Does anybody really think those involved with looting, vandalism, civil disobedience care what these leaders say? They understand a totally different kind of language. My thoughts are with the good people of Ferguson. May your community start to heal and become unified.

Justice will be served in Brown's killing
Excerpt:

I'm a black man, born and raised in the city of St. Louis. I went to public schools, graduated from Beaumont High. I served my country in the Navy. This behavior in Ferguson makes no sense. We need to look in the mirror. This killing of Michael Brown is a tragedy. Justice will be served, but not like this. All of this is taking away from what happened to this young man. He was trying to better himself; we should be remembering all of his wonderful qualities. The person that did this will be brought to justice. When given time, the justice system will work. In closing, why is it that nobody sees or knows anything when it is a black killing a black? We kill each other everyday, and nobody in the neighborhood sees anything. Why is that?

Comment: Two common sense letters to the editor. Re the first letter - I hyperlinked to the Antonio Johnson story. Not sure what the "grandmother" story is about. Image source

Will Blacks hold Obama accountable for his policies?

Vote For Obama Because He's Black

Excerpt:

Some of his strongest, high-profile supporters in the black community are now saying that Obama's race, alone, should be enough for black voters to vote for his re-election.

Krissah Thompson of The Washington Post reports that on "The Tom Joyner Morning Show," which has an estimated 8 million radio listeners, Joyner, who is black, said, "Stick together, black people." The show reaches one in four African-American adults.

Rev. Al Sharpton, who also has a radio show and a gig on MSNBC, admonished blacks who have been critical of the president, "I'm not telling you to shut up. I'm telling you: Don't make some of us have to speak up."

...

In the same week the memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was dedicated in Washington, Joyner and Sharpton are saying that Barack Obama should be judged not on the content of his character and policies, but rather on the color of his skin. How sad. How racist.


If a black president cannot be held accountable for his policies and must receive the votes of African-Americans solely because of his race, then all of the marching for equal rights has been for nothing. The question ought to be this: are African-Americans, indeed, are all Americans, better off than they were when Barack Obama took office? By any objective standard, the answer must be "no." How do black people expect their circumstances to improve if Obama is elected for another four years? If they conclude they will not, why not vote for someone who can create the conditions under which more of them might get a job, for example? Black unemployment is 16.7 percent, the highest it's been in 27 years.

Comment: To answer the question: "Will Blacks hold Obama accountable for his policies?" ... I doubt it!

Michael Jackson: Day of Mourning?

Sharpton Calling for Jackson Postage Stamp and Day of Mourning

Excerpt:

Reverend Al Sharpton is using his Sunday appearance at The First A.M.E. Church in South Los Angeles to call for a U.S. Postage stamp honoring Michael Jackson, as well as national day of mourning.

Sharpton faces a steep challenge in getting the stamp approved, as commemorative stamps cannot even be considered until 5 years after the subject's death, according to the U.S. Postal Service.

The only exception to the rule is for deceased U.S. Presidents, who have traditionally been honored with a stamp released on their birthdays, following date of death.

Releasing a commemorative stamp could be a financial boon for the Postal Service as Michael Jackson memorabilia has reportedly been selling in high volumes and in some cases for significantly higher prices after the music icon's passing.

Comment: OH PLEASE!

More Al Sharpton

Preposterous brouhaha

Cartoonists tread lightly when drawing Obama

Excerpt:

Editorial cartoonists are bending over backwards a lot these days, as they try to satirize the nation's first black president. And when they don't, the result is the kind of outcry that erupted this week after a New York Post cartoon featured a bloody chimpanzee — intentionally or unintentionally evoking racist images of the past.

Those expressing outrage:

Roland Martin: NY Post cartoon is racist and careless

Sharpton, 'New York Post' At Odds Over Political Cartoon

Comment: I actually love political cartoons and political satire. This is kerfuffle over nothing. By the way ... Pelosi and her team authored the stimulus bill!

Mixed messages: Al Sharpton on abortion

Al Sharpton on Abortion

Q: How do you feel about abortion?
A: I think women should have the right to choose what happens to their own life, body and choices.

My religion says that abortion is wrong. And while I may believe that life begins when the sperm meets the egg, and that only God should decide whether to take a life, I will not stand in the way of a woman's right to choose. If women do not have a right to choose, then it's a civil rights violation.

On the verdict of the Sean Bell trial

What we saw in court today was not a miscarriage of justice. Justice didn’t miscarry. This was an abortion of justice. Abortions are intended. Miscarriage could be you couldn’t hold the baby justice, you couldn’t take care of the baby, or it was an accident.

It was no accident. When a judge sits on a bench and says he considered the criminal background of some of the victims, that is an abortion and it is illegal. Because even people with criminal backgrounds have civil rights. You do not lose your rights to go to a club and walk to your car just because you may have a background that the police didn’t know you had.


Comment: Whether one approves of the verdict of the Sean Bell case, the point on Al Sharpton is this: He considers the verdict "an abortion and illegal". But aborting the unborn should be legal.