Radical civil rights activist Al Sharpton gives TSU commencement address.

Al Sharpton

by Rod Williams - Al Sharpton spoke to TSU grad school graduates on Friday.  He was the official commencement speaker but the  graduation ceremony was on Saturday morning. There were 244 graduate students graduating.  The Tennessean has several pictures of the event but does not report the context of Sharpton's comments. The TSU website says he told the students to keep achieving and build on their success.  If Sharpton said anything controversial I would not expect it to be reported by The Tennessean or TSU.

Al Sharpton is a community activist, racial agitator, politician and minister who serves as the host of PoliticsNation on MSNBC.  Sharpton in the past has done and said many controversial things. In 1992 at Kean College, Sharpton called on people to kill policeman.  He did not use the word "kill" but talked of “offing cops” and “crackers.”  "Crackers" is an ethnic slur to describe white people. It is comparable to a white person calling a Black person "nigger."  In that speech he mocked those who said they would kill cops and then didn't follow thorough. Here is an excerpt from the speech.

All the Panther lovers, all the do or die, all the (indecipherable) Negroes in Plainfield. I didn’t see them stand up and do nothing. All the ‘I don’t believe in marching. I don’t believe, I believe in offing the pigs.’ Well they got pigs out here. You ain’t offed one of them.

What I believe in I do. Do what you believe in. Or shut up and admit that you’ve lost your courage and guts to stand up.

‘I ain’t having no march. I believe in fighting.’ Well fight then. Nobody holding you. ‘I’ll off the man.’ Well off him. Plenty of crackers walking right around here tonight. Ain’t nobody come out and knock the gun out of your hand. (link)

Sharpton has also engaged in actions that some would characterize as antisemitic.   In 1991 a car driven by a Jewish man accidentally struck and killed a Black child in a community called Crown Heights. There was a dispute about the cause of the accident and if an ambulance gave preferential treatment to the Jewish man. This resulted in four days of rioting.  Mops marched in the streets and called out slogans of  "kill the Jew," and "get the Jew out.'  A visiting Jewish student from Australia was stabbed to death by a mob. Sharpton inflamed tensions by marched through Crown Heights  in front of the headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement, shortly after the riot, with about 400 protesters who chanted "Whose streets? Our streets!" and "No justice, no peace!" Mayor Dinkins's urged Sharpton to not hold the march.  "If the Jews want to get it on," said Shapton, "tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house."

One of Shapton's most disgusting affairs was his involvement in the Tawana Brawley case. Tawana Brawley was a 15-year old Black girl who alleged she was raped, smeared with feces, had racial slurs written on her body and otherwise abused. She alleged six white men were involved and some of them were policemen.  It was later proven she made up the allegation.  Sharpton fanned the flames of racial hatred during this event.  He alleged the prosecutor was a racist and of being one of the perpetrators of the alleged abduction and rape. Later he was convicted of defamation for those unfounded allegation.

In addition to fanning the flames of racial hatred, Sharpton has also been a spokesman for a predatory lender, headed a phony non-profit and avoided paying income tax.  TSU graduating grad students should be insulted that a racist con man like Al Shapton was chosen as their commencement speaker.

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