In the wake of the Daniel Penny verdict and the reaction of various factions in our society, it is appropriate to share with American Greatness exclusively a chapter from the book, Obvious: Seeing the Evil That’s in Plain Sight and Doing Something About It. In Obvious, “Part Three: Your Life Matters,” I address head-on the scourge of racism in this country.
Particularly, in the chapter titled “Al Sharpton is Not a Race Hustler,” I suggest that the use of euphemisms is not an effective form of fighting obvious racist behavior.
A key question to ask in the current court case would be, “Would Daniel Penny have protected those threatened in the subway car with the same physical force had Jordan Neely, acting in such an erratic and murderous manner, been white?”
The issue for racists is always the color of one’s skin. Whether it’s Al Sharpton or Rep. Jamaal Bowman (among many other “usual suspects,” such as BLM), they do not appear to care about simple truth and observable facts.
In the wake of Donald Trump’s triumphant reelection and with the real possibility that the breaking of the spell of wokeness and political correctness in this country has begun, perhaps the gloves need to finally come off with regard to dealing with the new Scarlet Letter: R. That begins with the proper use of terminology, and conservatives and others of goodwill must not be beholden to what is and is not “permitted” by those on the far left.
Here is how I address the issue of language in just one particular chapter in Obvious:
Al Sharpton is Not a Race Hustler
For years, Al Sharpton has been accused of various things, from race hustler to race baiter to playing the race card. But none of these labels are appropriate.
Being a “race hustler” implies that you outsmarted your mark and caused him to fall for your scheme. The focus is deflected from you to the person hustled and outwitted. The same with being a “race baiter”—your adversary is lured into your trap and, again, duped. And someone who “plays the race card” just beat you at your own game. The hustler, baiter, and card player end up looking good, while the one played looks bad.
These phrases have been invented by the left to allow conservatives and middle-of-the-roaders to label people on the left. Have these phrases ever been used to describe anyone on the right? No. People on the right are always called “racist;” whether they are or not is inconsequential.
The euphemisms have been designed to soften the actions of people on the left. And non-leftists dutifully employ them because they’ve been well-trained.
But if we ever want to see this relatively recent resurgence of ugly racism in this country properly stamped down and eventually crushed out altogether, we need to use the proper nomenclature.
So, no, Al Sharpton is not a race hustler—nor is he a race baiter or a person who plays the race card. Al Sharpton is simply, and unfortunately, a racist.
That’s the bad news.
But here’s the good news. Al Sharpton is also a reverend. In fact, he much prefers being addressed as the Reverend Al Sharpton. And since he is a reverend and a Christian who presumably preaches that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, then Reverend Al Sharpton also knows that Jesus died for the sin of racism. Anyone who repents of that sin—and any sin—is “forgiven indeed.”
It is true that the Reverend Al Sharpton has great influence on American culture. And with that influence comes great responsibility.
What if in the case of the George Floyd tragedy, Reverend Al Sharpton had gone to Minneapolis as a true reverend, as a follower of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace? What if the Reverend had gone there to sit down with all parties concerned to oversee a fair and righteous resolution to this horrific event?
What if Reverend Sharpton had always seen himself as a man famous for both peace and justice and felt that it was his God-given duty to get involved in extremely volatile conflicts involving race? And he believed that he had been “born for such a time as this.”
And because the Reverend was willing to make the effort to initiate a meeting and to put his own reputation on the line for the good of humanity and his country, a solution was worked out. The possibility of a fair trial, one that established the facts and exposed what actually happened (not just what the loudest voices demanded happened).
Once a peaceful solution was acquired, the Reverend Sharpton thanked the God who saved him, the God who was with him to help save others in this terrible situation that could have gotten out of hand and destroyed the lives and property of thousands of people across the country. The Reverend even began writing his sermon for the coming Sunday. He’d call it, “Jesus Christ Matters.” After all, the Reverend knew who made the difference that changed the hearts and minds of angry and difficult people. Reverend Sharpton smiled again as he thought about how he could use this same “peace meeting” template when the next tragedy struck. Sadly, in real life, this plan did not appear to be part of Al Sharpton’s agenda.
When Reverend Sharpton delivered the eulogy at Mr. Floyd’s funeral, he spoke as though Mr. Floyd were a saint. This may or may not be true; however, would a reverend, who believes that he is eulogizing a saint, encourage or be silent in the face of violence being done in the name of that saint? Or, is it more true to character that a godly reverend insists that love and peace be the proper way to accompany a good and decent man to his final resting place?
There’s been much well-meaning talk among “church people” these days that the only way to save this wayward nation is for the “true believers” to have a revival. And humble repentance from the church is needed to set that revival in motion, a revival that could sweep this nation and restore it to an honored place as “a shining city on a hill,” a beacon of hope for all other nations.
Perhaps if all Christians took a knee and prayed that the God of love would repair our land and lead us in wiping away this resurgence of ugly racism, we would begin to see a healing across America.
We need to properly address racism wherever we find it in this country. Racism has once again become fashionable, unfortunately, with the thoughtless acceptance of the “facts” of the 1619 Project and with the forceful implementation of both Critical Race Theory and the oddly monikered concept of “anti-racism.” Why do people who decry the racism of the KKK then turn around and happily accept and support the equally obvious racism of BLM?
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Albin Sadar is the author of Obvious: Seeing the Evil That’s in Plain Sight and Doing Something About It, as well as the children’s book collection, Hamster Holmes: Box of Mysteries. Albin was formerly the producer of “The Eric Metaxas Show.”
Crystal Mangum’s claim that she was raped at a 2006 fraternity party, by the Duke University Team of LaCrosse players, is the same as what Al Sharpton, accused four white men of doing, based on race, to Tawana Brawley, except in one notable way. Crystal, who has had her Jesus moment, apologized. Al Sharpton, already a pastor, and who supposedly had a similar moment, never did.
Racism is America is about creating racism for many reasons chief of which is for gaining political advantage by white, black, male and female Democrats. It is about Party and power. It is also used to garner favoritism, money, reparations and to inflict damage. Without it there would be no DEI, BLM, ESG, White privilege or the 1619 project.
Everyone has some bias based on evolution. It has a tribal, national, group or community genesis and is defeated by the American way. And that way is via economics where individuals often move in an out of classes and go from the bottom to the top, often in one lifetime and, similarly, in the same generation or family. And the pillar, upon which the melting pot is dependent, is the founding concept of Equality under the Law. The Rule of Law and Equal Justice work hand in hand. They are designed to be blind. Furthermore, in America, a Christian Country, people forgive because Christianity, itself, acts as an accelerant. It makes it easy for people to get back into society. There is no societal caste system in America.
Al Sharpton has turned racism into an income earning profession and for narcissistic self-aggrandizement. And a lot of black Democrats have followed his lead. If he, and his Party, had it their way there would be an American caste system and white people would be at the bottom. White people are too willing to virtue signal, hoping that appeasement will extinguish any racial fires, without comprehending that the purpose of American racism, at this time in history, is to create a racial conflagration. Any euphemisms and sensitivity towards the activists only confirm that doing what they are doing is working and therefore justifies doing more of the same.
Al Sharpton is the spiritual father of Ibram Henry Rogers, Nicole Hannah-Jones and the rest of the current crop of race exploiters.
Without the efforts of the Reverends Sharpton & Jackson to make every public issue into a racial one, the next generation would not have found it lucrative enough to make it a full-time gig. Thankfully, like all the cases that Al Sharpton attached himself to, the narrative is starting to unravel for a lot of people. Virtue signalling that you are okay with racism, as long as it only goes one direction, is being met with public derision on free speech platforms and in much of the podcast biosphere. It will take awhile to work it’s way down the chain to those who will blindly comply with any nonsense proposition as long as other people don’t say mean things about them or they are not publicly accused of mind-crimes where any protest of innocence is viewed as proof of guilt but it has begun.
Caitlin Clark may have just blown up her career on the altar of woke and I expect a few other lemmings will follow her over that cliff before the spell is broken…it can’t happen soon enough
Regrettably, racism is alive and well and is sustained and promoted by many individuals and organizations including the NAACP, Congressional Black Caucus, the Democrat Party, NBA, WNBA and NFL.
Mr. Sharpton (I will not dignify that racist cretin with a title he did not actually earn), is but one of many who promote racism through the use of projection, accusation and white-guilt.
Mr. Sadar is correct in that we must begin to use the proper descriptions of individuals like Sharpton, and of the organizations he leads and promotes.
Call them out unapologetically!
I wish it could be said that We ever defended the language. Why did homosexuals and lesbians become “gay?” Why are invaders “migrants?” Why, oh why, is genital butchery “gender affirming care?” The beat goes on and on and on. I thought that We were smarter than that.