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I heard Al Sharpton during his Minneapolis speech paying tribute to George Floyd. Sharpton said he is organizing a march to mark the 57th Anniversary of Martin Luther Kings I Have A Dream speech.

Excerpt from Martin Luther Kings I Have A Dream Speech

Here is a small portion of the actual speech that MLK said that historic day-

When we let it (freedom) ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of Gods children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.

Comparing what King said with Sharptons Minneapolis speech and many of Sharptons past actions should be very worrying to the US Jewish population. In fact, its what Sharpton did not say in his Minneapolis eulogy that should put every Jew on alert.

And because Sharpton is a regular contributor to MSNBC, it is even more disturbing he is given a national platform considering his past history regarding our people and Israel.

The Most Disturbing Part Of Sharptons Minneapolis Eulogy-

At the George Floyd Minneapolis eulogy, Al Sharpton announces that a march on Washington will take place on August 28 to commemorate the 57th Anniversary of Martin Luther Kings I Have A Dream Speech (Screenshot/Youtube)

The portion I am referring to appears at the 1hr 29min mark of the NBC video I was able to capture in a screen grab shortly after his speech finished. But I have not been able to locate it recently via a Google search. So either NBC has deleted it or it is temporarily unavailable. During his speech he said-

We need to go back to Washington and stand up Black, White, Latino, Arab in the shadows of Lincoln and tell them, This is the time to stop this.'

There is a running written word for word display of his speech at the bottom of the monitor, and the words Blacks, Whites, Latinos appear but not the word Arab. I ran other videos of the same speech and Sharpton definitely said the word Arab.

Sharpton did not mention Jews. NBC did not include the word Arab on its word for word display. Was that intentional or not? Is Sharpton sending a message that Jews are not invited to his march?

It was not a problem for Martin Luther King to mention the word Jews during that famous speech, why was it missing from Al Sharptons Minneapolis eulogy to George Floyd?

Al Sharpton -Looking Back In Time

The 1991 Crown Heights Riots

TheCrown Heightsrace riottook place from August 19 to 21, 1991, in theCrown Heightssection ofBrooklyn,New York City. Black residents turned againstOrthodox JewishChabadresidents, resulting in a deterioration of already tense racial relations in the densely populated community. The riots began after Gavin Cato and another child ofGuyaneseimmigrants were accidentally struck by one of the cars driven by Yosef Lifsh in the motorcade ofRebbeMenachem Mendel Schneerson, the leader ofChabad. Gavin Cato died and the second child was severely injured.

About three hours after the riots began, early on the morning of August 20, a group of young black men surrounded Yankel Rosenbaum, a 29-year-old JewishUniversity of Melbournestudent in the United States conducting research for his doctorate. They stabbed him several times in the back and beat him severely, fracturing his skull. Before being taken to the hospital, Rosenbaum identified 16-year-oldLemrick Nelson Jr.as his assailant in a line-up shown to him by the police.[3]Rosenbaum died later that night because the doctor didnt notice a stab wound in his chest. Nelson was charged with murder as an adult;[23]he was acquitted at trial. Later he was convicted in federal court of violating Rosenbaums civil rights and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Nelson eventually admitted that he had stabbed Rosenbaum.[24][25]

Al Sharpton Led March Through Crown Heights

On the third day of the disturbances,Al SharptonandSonny Carsonled a march through Crown Heights carrying antisemitic signs and burning an Israeli flag.[27][28]Rioters threw bricks and bottles at police; shots were fired at police and police cars were pelted and overturned, including the Police Commissioners car.[4][13]

Riots escalated to the extent that over 1,800 police officers, including mounted and motorcycle units, had to be called to stop the attacks on people and property.[4]

By the time the three days of rioting ended, 152 police officers and 38 civilians were injured, 27 vehicles were destroyed, seven stores were looted or burned,[29]and 225 cases of robbery and burglary were committed.[4]At least 129 arrests were made during the riots,[29]including 122 blacks and seven whites.[30][31]Property damage was estimated at one million dollars

Yankel Rosenbaums Brother Norman Speaks Out On The 20th Anniversary Of The Crown Heights Riots

Twenty years after the riot, aManhattansynagogue invited Sharpton to participate in apanel discussionmarking the anniversary. Norman Rosenbaum, brother of the murdered Yankel Rosenbaum, was outraged, saying inviting Sharpton to speak was an absolute disgrace and that his vile rhetoric incited the rioting. He added that Sharpton did absolutely nothing then to improve black-Jewish relations and nothing since.

Sharptons 2019 Speech At the Religious Action Centers Consultation On Conscience

In a 2019 speech to aReform Jewishgathering, Sharpton said that he could have done more to heal rather than harm. He recalled receiving a call fromCoretta Scott Kingat the time, during which she told him sometimes you are tempted to speak to the applause of the crowd rather than the heights of the cause, and you will say cheap things to get cheap applause rather than do high things to raise the nation higher.[52][53]

Norman Rosenbaums Washington Examiner May 20, 2019 Op-Ed

Selected comments appearing in that opinion piece by Yankel Rosenbaums brother Norman criticizing the decision by the Religious Action Center to invite Sharpton-

We remember Al Sharpton for what he did in 1991. It was in August of that year that he led violent, murderous anti-Semitic rioters on a pogrom in Crown Heights. They terrorized that Jewish community for nearly four days, during which 183 people were injured and the innocent visiting Australian University academic Yankel Rosenbaum brother to one of us was murdered in cold blood amid cries of Kill the Jew! Kill the Jew!

Anti-Semitism is on the rise, not just in the form of shouts or graffiti but also the murder of Jews. It is thus incomprehensible how the Religious Action Center could have ever made this decision( to invite Sharpton).

Norman Rosenbaum also said that Sharpton has never once demanded all of the mob that attacked and murdered Yankel Rosenbaum be brought to justice.

Before Sharpton returns to Minneapolis to sit in on the trial for the four policemen accused of taking part in the killing of George Floyd, he must also seek justice for the family of Yankel Rosenbaum. Failure to do so clearly illustrates that for Al Sharpton, when it comes to a choice between Jews and Blacks, only Black lives matter.

Sharptons Trip To H*ll

Shortly after the Crown Heights Riots, a lawsuit was brought to court against Lifsh, who had moved to Israel. It was Al Sharpton who flew to Israel to serve papers on Lifsh. Many newspapers confirmed this report such as The New York Times and Chicago Tribune on September 18, 1991.

When Sharpton arrived at Ben Gurion a few people recognized him and at least one began shouting Go To H*ll in response to which Sharpton responded Im in H*ll already, Im in Israel.

By saying this and many other statements against Jews and Israel in the past, this only helps to confirm that in all probability Sharpton does not want Jews to participate in the upcoming march on Washington he is organizing.

Referring Back To My Previous Blog About Hubert Humphrey

I asked why Sharpton never made reference to Hubert Humphrey in his eulogies for George Floyd. Hubert Humphrey was a strong supporter of the Jewish cause and especially Israel. He made many trips there to help the Jewish people, as a representative of the US Government.

For his efforts, my people have much to thank Hubert Humphrey for when we were under constant Arab attack since the time the Jewish State was established. Frank Cover played the part of Hubert Humphrey in the movie A Woman Named Golda who was played by Ingrid Bergman in her final film. This film represents only a small part of what Hubert Humphrey accomplished for Israel. And it clearly shows the respect Prime Minister Golda Meir had for Hubert Humphrey and how much respect Humphrey had for Meir.

Given Al Sharptons negative feelings toward Israel and Jews, its very obvious why he would not make reference to Hubert Humphrey.

Avoid Going To Sharptons Washington March On August 28

By refusing to recognize Hubert Humphrey, making derogatory remarks about Israel and being involved many times in inciting violence against Jews, Al Sharpton has no interest in supporting the fundamental vision of the Civil Rights movement laid out by Martin Luther King.

Jews and all those who are admirers of MLK , HHH and what they stood for should refuse to participate in this march.

Excerpt from:
MLK Said All Lives Matter Al Sharpton Disagrees - The Times of Israel

TULSA, Okla. Millions of Americans on Friday observed Juneteenth, a holiday to mark the end of slavery in the United States that has taken on a new urgency following the national uproar over the killings of George Floyd and other African Americans by police.

And for many marking the day, it was the first time.

Juneteenth deliberately downplayed for generations by a U.S. educational system unwilling to focus on that heinous history and uninterested in the accomplishments of Black Americans is suddenly in the spotlight as the nation faces another racial reckoning.

Multiple bills have been introduced to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.

And because of concerns about the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, many events are being held online, like the Juneteenth Music Festival in Denver or the Juneteenth Virtual Community Day in Hartford, Connecticut.

In Florida, where the state broke its record for single-day coronavirus cases with 3,822 new infections Friday, "socially distanced" picnics were planned in Tampa, St. Petersburg and other hard hit locations.

The Rev. Al Sharpton will be the keynote speaker at a Juneteenth rally for justice later in the day in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the site of a 1921 massacre, which wiped out a vibrant Black business community when a racist white mob killed some 300 African American residents.

Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.

Sharptons appearance comes a day before President Donald Trump arrives in Tulsa for his first political rally since the pandemic paralyzed the country. The event, which had originally been scheduled for Friday, was moved after the Trump campaign was accused of being tone-deaf and hit with an avalanche of criticism.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump later insisted he made Juneteenth famous.

Its actually an important event, its an important time, Trump insisted. But nobody had heard of it. Very few people have heard of it.

That was news to 66-year-old Bobby Eaton, who came Friday to the Juneteenth festival in Tulsa and grew up hearing tales of what the Greenwood District was like before the massacre. He spoke while hundreds marched down Greenwood Avenue, on which "Black Lives Matter" was painted in enormous yellow letters.

I think its a good thing that all eyes are on Tulsa right now," Eaton said. "Some of those didnt know about our history and our culture and what took place down here on Black Wall St. Before Hiroshima, before 9/11, we were bombed right here in 1921.

Vanessa Saddler, 65, who is also from Tulsa, said "this is sacred, holy ground."

As for Trump, "he is a racist and not welcome," Saddler said.

Meanwhile, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, at an online forum hosted by MSNBC called Juneteenth JusticeCon on Friday night, called on Americans to dedicate themselves to dismantle systemic racism and paid tribute to the bittersweet nature of Juneteenth which, he said both reminds us of the long hard night and the bright morning to come.

When it comes to racism in the U.S., Biden said Black Americans carry the burden, but all Americans carry the shame and the duty to act.

African Americans have celebrated Juneteenth for more than a century with parades and parties and gatherings of all kinds. And Juneteenth is now recognized by 47 states and the District of Columbia as a state holiday or observance.

"Juneteenth has never been a celebration of victory, or an acceptance of the way things are," Barack Obama, Trump's predecessor and the nation's first Black president, tweeted. "It's a celebration of progress."

This year, the holiday is being observed more widely than ever before. But in addition to celebrations both large and small, more protests against police violence on African Americans and rallies in solidarity with the community were underway in New York City, Chicago and Atlanta.

Demonstrations were also planned from Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., within sight of the White House, all the way west to the Pacific Coast, where members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union vowed to shut down for eight hours ports from Bellingham, Washington all the way south to San Diego and engage in peaceful protests.

Also in Washington, a memorial to former Redskins owner George Marshall, infamous for his opposition to having Black players on the team roster, suffered the same fate as that of several statues of Confederate generals recently -- it was removed. Workers arrived early Friday and yanked it of its pedestal near RFK Stadium.

At General Motors plants in Michigan, workers and management planned to hold an eight-minute, 46-second moment of silence --- the amount of time authorities initially said that a white Minneapolis police officer kept his knee on George Floyd's neck before he died on May 25.

For workers at major companies like Nike, Target and Twitter, Juneteenth is a paid holiday this year while Capital One announced it was closing its branches early Friday.

Gamboa reported from Tulsa, Siemaszko from New Jersey

Suzanne Gamboa is a national reporter for NBC Latino and NBCNews.com

Corky Siemaszko is a senior writer for NBC News Digital.

Adam Edelman contributed.

Read more:
Juneteenth observed across the country with new interest, urgency - NBC News

Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo was a guest on MSNBC's PoliticsNation with Rev.Al Sharpton.

AUDIOis availablehere.

A rush transcript of the Governor's interview is available below:

Al Sharpton:I'm joined now by theGovernor of theState ofNewYork,AndrewCuomo. GovernorCuomo, thank you for being with us. First of all, tell people nationwide, and you andIhave debated and we've known each other 35 years since both of us were toddlers - no, we were grown but we've known each other that long- whyI've said this is some bedrock stuff. Alot of groups for many years have been pushing for some of these things. You andIhave talked about it for years, even some of the progressive groups for the last several years. But now you've signed it into law. Explain what those bills are and thenIwant to go into your executive order which raised the bar as far asI'm concerned thatIdid not even expect to hear when I went to the bill signing.

Governor Cuomo:Thanks,Reverend.Good to be with you. We have known each other 35 years andIunderstand that you're more fit than you were 35 years ago. I just don't know how we started out the same age and you became younger than me after 35 years. Look,God bless you. You have been arguing this case for a long time. RodneyKing was 30 years ago. AbnerLouimainNewYork, 23 years ago he was brutalized. MikeMcAlarywon thePulitzer, your friend and mine.

Why did it take so long? I don't knowbut we're here nowandIbelieve you making that argument, you standing up every time there was an injustice, we hit a critical mass and the nation rose up withMr. Floyd. We now have to seize the momentbecause you're exactly right. It's demonstration, legislation,reconciliation. The point of the demonstration is for change and the change comes when you change the lawsand this is the moment we're inandIwant to make sure we capitalize on the moment andNewYork can be the laboratory for this.We have that energy. People want change. What is the change? Let's show them inNewYork.

We passed what's calledrepeal 50-A. It's a new transparency for the disclosure of complaints against policeso you'll get the full file of a police officer when he's accused or she's accused of doing something wrong. Now that can either exonerate or it can implicate. If there were no other charges that would work to the police officer's benefit. If there was a pattern of charges we'd know that also.

We legislated that theAttorneyGeneral is a special prosecutorif there's a police killing and you knowI had done that by executive order five years ago but now that is part of the law. So we're making dramatic legal changes that should have been made frankly 30 years ago. No chokeholds. I mean,Eric garner, we went through that tragedy six years ago. Why did it take so long? I don't know. But we're here now. Capitalize on the moment. Carpe diem, seize the day, seize the moment. Carpe momentum. And we've done that by changing the laws inNewYork and we signed that into law this week. You were kind enough to be there.

Al Sharpton:Now the thing that also impressed me and you're right, we've dealt with these laws whileIwas with you when you announced the giving theAttorneyGeneral by executive order special prosecutor five years ago, but now it's law. It's not just an executive order. I rememberJonathanMoore the attorney,DonnaLieberman,attorney, MikeHardy and others dealing with you for a long time about 50-A, and a lot of other groups that have come in. One of the things that strikes me is on theLeft you're going to have people arguing about who should get credit rather than making sure we're monitoring in force, and on theRight you're going to have unions that are going to be angry at you or thinking you went too far. But it's getting the job done. But you went a step further. You said you want every mayor of every city and police chief to come up with a plan on how to work with the community around these issues or you'd withholdState moneyandIthink this is something other of the governors, 49 others to be exact, ought to really look at. Explain that executive order becauseIthink this is something totally different and it's backed up with money.

Governor Cuomo:Reverend,I'm excited by this moment. As I saidI'm sorry it took so long to come. I'm sorry so many had to suffer and so many had to die. I applaud you for your continued advocacy over all these years. But now we're here. Let's seize the moment. You askedMartin, and good to see him, by the way, even ifon this video,where do we go from here?I think the point about the Kerner Commission - take a fundamental look at society. Justice only works if we have full justice, social justice, economic justice and racial justice. I think that's right, but short term in this moment what can we get done? Reform the police. Reform the police. The outrage has been expressed. People are ready to change. Government is ready to change. But the art form is and do what? What we're saying in New York is every local government, you have to reinvent your police department. You have to sit down at a table and redesign it in a collaborative. Bring in those protesters, bring in those activists, bring in those civil rights people, sit there with the police department, bring the mayor, bring the city council and redesign the police department now in this moment. Take into consideration everything we've heard. We want to demilitarize the police. How do you do that? Use of force policy, how do you do that? End bias of policing, how do you do that? More diversity. Okay, how do you do that? That's the art form, turning the energy into action and what we said in New York is every local community has to do that. The city has to do that. The mayor has to be at the table. The city council president. You have nine months. You then have to pass a law instituting that plan and if you don't do it then you're not going to get any State funds. Because why? If you don't have an incentive sanction they're not going to do it. This is a hot potato. The politicians don't really want to deal with it. They'd rather do these press releases, stop tear gas, stop rubber bullets. It's a more fundamental issue than that. You want a different police force for the year 2020. Design it and design it now so we don't lose this moment which has been too long in coming.

Reverend Al Sharpton:The President and others in the Republican Party have yet to really address this. I understand Senator Tim Scott is supposed to do it and Martin III just said we need to have bipartisan focus on this. Here's Tim Scott, Senator from South Carolina, this morning on Meet The Press signaling the Trump Administration's response to this moment. Watch this.

Senator Tim Scott:The executive order that will come out I think on Tuesday really does reference a national database, strengthening a national data base, police misconduct from my understanding. It also talks about the importance of co-responders from a mental health perspective.

Reverend Al Sharpton:Shouldn't he look at the blueprint that you've just done with these four bills and executive orders to go further than just having a database? We know there's the problem, to just certify and put the numbers to the problem is not moving toward government solving the problem.

Governor Cuomo:Reverend, we know what they're going to do. There's no secrets left with this administration. We saw the President's response when he staged that photo op and he had the military kick out the protesters so it didn't get in the way of the camera lens. They're not going to do anything. I don't even know what that means, a national database of bad cops. What is a bad cop? What are the rules? What do you want the police to do? What is the use of force policy? How do you demilitarize the police? That'swhat we have to find out first and we have to do it now. This moment is so precious, right? When do we actually make change in society? When the planets line up. When did we get gun control in the state of New York? After the Sandy Hook massacre because people stood up and said enough is enough. That's when change comes. People are standing up and saying enough is enough now. Great, seize the moment and make the change. But literally redesign the police department community by community. Because the New York City police department is one type of police department. Suffolk County will have other issues. Erie County will have other issues. Buffalo, Mayor Brown, God bless him, he'll have other issues to address. But make them do it now while we have the moment and we have the energy. And that's how change comes.

Reverend Al Sharpton:All right, Governor Andrew Cuomo, again, thank you for being with us. And again, we've known each other for years, I won't tell everybody that your father, Governor Mario Cuomo, told me Chris was his favorite son and that your oldest daughter said to Chris that I'm her favorite TV show. Good to be with you, Governor.

Read more:
Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo is a Guest on MSNBC's PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton - ny.gov

Last last week it was announced that a big march on Washington is scheduled for August to commemorate the 57th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.s historic march and help further the cause of addressing police brutality and injustice in law enforcement.

All of which sounds like a very good idea.

The march is being organized by Al Shaprton.

This Al Sharpton.

Which sounds like a very, very bad idea.

Podcast June 12 2020

On Today's Bulwark Podcast, Andrew Sullivan from New York Magazine joins Charlie Sykes to discuss woke culture, the GOP ...

It is never wise to speculate about the condition of another mans soul, so Im happy to stipulate that the Reverend Sharpton may be a fine human being and a good man. My friend Matt Labash thinks so and if youre only ever going to read one profile of Sharpton, it should be his. (Among other glories, it reveals that Sharptons entourage had their own catchphrase for the boss: Rev gotta eat. Which functioned nicely in all circumstances.)

Sharpton is in his autumnal years now and perhaps hes no longer the hotheaded agitator and hustler he was in his youth. People change.

Then again, if you were going to put together a list of public figures most likely to transform the George Floyd protests from a nonpartisan, broad-based movement to another front in the culture war, Sharpton would have to be near the very top.

Conversely, it would be easy to identify inspiring black leaders across the political spectrum better suited to expanding the movement: Cory Booker, Colin Powell, Michelle Obama, Van Jones, Oprah, Denzel Washington, John Lewis, Don Cheadle, James Clyburn, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Michael Steele, Skip Gates, Chris Rock, Cornell West, Shaq . . . we could go on for quite some time before we got to the Rev.

Social movements, like political coalitions, are exercises in addition. You do not achieve change unless you can add enough people to your cause, who then apply ballot-box pressure at all levels of government over a sustained period of time.

What has made these protests different from all of the protests of the last 20 yearsthe anti-war protests of the Bush years, the Occupy movement of 2011-12, the Ferguson protests of six years ago, the Womens marches since 2017is that they have attracted a broad array of support: blacks, Hispanics, whites, city-dwellers, suburbanites. The polling shift over just the last two weeks is shocking. Heres Tim Alberta explaining the magnitude:

An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Sunday found that Americans by a 2-to-1 margin are more troubled by the actions of police in the killing of George Floyd than by violence at some protest. A survey for USA Today last week showed white Americans favorable impressions of police declining by double-digits week over the week. Most notably, a Monmouth poll released June 2conducted in the days after Floyds killingshowed, for the first time, that a majority of Americans (57 percent) and a plurality of whites (49 percent) believe police are more likely to use excessive force against African Americans. This represents a tectonic shift in public opinion: After Eric Garner was killed by New York City police in the summer of 2014, Monmouth found that 33 percent of Americans believed the black community was more likely to be abused by police; among whites, that number was just 26 percent.

Its almost a sea change, said Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina, one of three black members of the U.S. Senate. For years, Scott explained, the response from so many well-intended people was to overlook the brutality brought to African Americans at the hands of the police. . . . But I look at the publics response to this situation and it feels like the first time in my lifetime that Ive heard law enforcement agencies coming out with strong rebukes and condemnation of the officers in Minneapolis.

The senator added, Without question, this is different. It feels different. It sounds different. The protesters are different. . . . I look out my window in Washington and see 10 protesters. Seven of them are white, and three of them are black.

From where we stand right now, the current movement shows a great deal of promise. But change is hard even in the best of circumstances. Because inertia is a bitch.

Going forward there are two dangers for the movement. The first is apathy. If the movement were to peter out, or be moved to the back-burner of peoples minds, then it will be difficult to exert enough democratic power to produce change.

This isnt to say that protesters need to stay in the streets forever. At some point, everyone goes back to normalor whatever normal is these dayswith the protests having (hopefully) established a beachhead on the political priorities of a majority of Americans.

The reason a march in August is a good idea is because its the perfect moment to re-energize this coalition going into the November elections. And its important to note that were not primarily talking about national politics here: The fate of Donald Trump bears a mostly symbolic relationship to the cause of police reform. Notwithstanding House Democrats announcement of a reform bill on Monday, the federal government will have a relatively small role solving the problems that the protesters are upset about. The real heavy lifting is going to be done by state and local governments, which would have to adopt specific reforms targeted at correcting the problems within their own law enforcement organs.

The August march might be able to help amplify and channel the present energy.

The second danger for this movement is the possibility that it will be transformed in the public consciousness into something elsesomething more divisive, something that will cause some people to leave and prevent others from joining. In short: that it will become another front in the culture war.

Which is why Al Sharpton is unlikely to be helpful.

Just for the sake of argument, lets assume that Sharptons heart is in the right place and that he wants to lead this march for purely altruistic reasons. Even so: Every high-level person who agrees to participate will be asked, Do you endorse the entire career of Rev. Sharpton?

Of all the people who could plausibly become the face of this movement, Sharpton is one of the least likely to help it grow and the most likely to regress it to the pre-2020 battle lines.

Its enough to make you think, Well crap. Why dont they stop him?

And the answer is: There is no they.

The advantage of an unorganized, distributed movement is that it can grow organically, attracting people from all different points on the ideological and socioeconomic spectrumsbecause there is no central face of it to cause negative polarity. If you are, say, a libertarian, or a Christian, you are every bit as likely to be drawn to the Floyd protests as you are if youre an African American or a Democrat.

A distributed movement lowers the political and psychological barriers to entry in important ways.

But precisely because its distributed, the movement is vulnerable to hijacking. Because if someone steps forward to say This is what were all about, theres no organizational authority to push back against it.

You saw that happen over the last week when defund the police went from a fringe Twitter slogan to a semi-serious position that was being ascribed to much of the protest movement. In just a few days, anyone who was supportive of the movement was being asked to answer for it, as if defunding (or abolishing) the police was somehow an official position of the protests.

This same dynamic will set in when someone eventually steps up to become the public face of the organized version of the movement.

Which is precisely what Sharpton is doing.

And just as there was no organization positioned to say, No, these protests do not endorse the specific policy of abolishing police forces there will be no one who can say, These protests are not an endorsement of Al Sharpton and his entire public history.

If youve studied Al Sharptons public history, then his play to take over this movement makes a great deal of sense. He is a man who has always been looking for angles.

If youd like to be charitable, you can say that he was in it for the greater good. And yet, it would not be unreasonable to take a less charitable view.

But in this case, the stakes are larger than they have ever been for any movement which Sharpton sought to be a part of. There is a chancea very real chancefor Americans to reform law enforcement. To professionalize a category of government that has often been egregiously unjust and to exercise a proper degree of civilian control over the institutions to which we delegate the legal use of force against our neighbors and ourselves.

Theres no one to tell Al Sharpton that he has to step back and let someone else lead this movement.

But if he really does have his heart in the right place, hell do it on his own.

Read the original here:
Al Sharpton Should Not Become the Public Face of the Protests - The Bulwark

On June 9th, George Floyds funeral was held in Houston, Texas. One of the speakers was Rev. Al Sharpton but why did the Baptist minister wear black gloves?

The death of George Floyd on May 25th has been one of the defining moments of 2020.

His death has sparked international outrage and has seen protest movements emerge the world over.

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the focus has turned to the age-old struggle for equality after clashes with police did little to de-escalate tensions.

As the tragic catalyst for the renewed Black Lives Matter movement, it comes as no surprise that George Floyds funeral on June 9th was a must-watch occasion.

The over four-hour-long service took place at the Fountain of Praise church in Houston, Texas and saw crowds amass outside and the service live-streamed across the world to allow people pay their respects to the late George Floyd.

However, those watching were left with a bizarre question about the Reverand Al Sharpton after he was seen wearing black gloves at the funeral service as well as in the days beforehand.

George Floyds funeral took place at the Fountain of Praise church in Houston, Texas on June 9th.

The service saw a number of people pay their respects to Floyd through eulogies, songs and prayer.

Al Sharpton was one of the main figures who spoke at George Floyds funeral.

Sharpton has long been a public figure in the US. As well as being a Baptist minister, he grew in notoriety through activism during the 1960s, 70s and beyond.

During Barack Obamas presidency, Sharpton was described as an adviser to the president and was reportedly Obamas go-to man on racial issues similar to the death of George Floyd.

The Baptist minister spoke for around 40 minutes at George Floyds funeral service and detailed the struggle that black people have gone through ever since being brought to the US and took aim at Donald Trumps response to the death of George Floyd.

Like many at George Floyds funeral, Al Sharpton wore gloves as part of the social distancing measures put in place at the service.

According to Distractify, measures taken to promote social distancing at the funeral included the wearing of masks, gloves and the use of blue dots on the ground to try and keep people a safe distance apart.

In images in and around the Fountain of Praise church, Rev. Sharpton could also be seen wearing a face mask, just as others were at the service but removed it when it was his time to speak.

In other news, TikTok: The 'Know That You Are Good Enough' song explained - emotional Lewis Capaldi remix goes viral!

Read more:
Why does Al Sharpton wear black gloves? The Baptist minister wore gloves for a good reason at George Floyds funeral - HITC - Football, Gaming, Movies,...