Sharpton Is an Opportunist

In response to my recent column critical of the Reverend Al Sharpton's involvement with the Sean Bell killing in Queens, one reader responded with: "I don't agree with the Reverend Al Sharpton's tactics only because I think marching and praying is ineffective. I will say that he is there to fight for my people when clearly there has been an injustice."

The writer is obviously a highly intelligent woman who nonetheless is unable to recognize Rev. Sharpton of New Jersey as the opportunist he is. What I cannot understand is why Rev. Sharpton is always the black community's go-to guy to deal with the authorities in times of crisis.

I also can't help but wonder why the only black community leaders who get significant ink in the mainstream press are the ones who are demagogic self-promoters like Rev. Sharpton and the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Bona fide civil rights activists like those at the Congress of Racial Equality are generally ignored by these publications.

No matter what prestigious event CORE hosts, I guarantee you won't read about it in the mainstream press. Last year's Martin Luther King dinner included stellar guest speakers like the American ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton (don't you miss him already); Governor Barbour of Mississippi; and musical megastar Usher. Photographers from all the papers, including the New York Times, covered Usher's entrance, but reporters neglected the important main event and the speeches by the dignitaries.

The year before, at CORE's Harmony Award ceremony, I heard the amazing story of the high school students whose project led to the reopening of the case against a Klansman, Edgar Ray Killen, responsible for the 1964 deaths of CORE workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner in Mississippi.

At the dinner, the national chairman of CORE, Roy Innis, spoke of Killen's conviction and added, "The trial exposed what we had expected over 40 years ago — that there was a massive conspiracy against black people."

Certainly, Mr. Innis should be the go-to person to discuss injustice and conspiracy, but instead we get Rev. Sharpton, whose presence seems to ignite a furor, regardless of how tame his current speech is. At the Bell funeral, members of the New Black Panther Party made an appearance, shouting, "Fifty shots, fifty cops, kill the pigs who killed our kids." Oh boy, here we go again.

Philip Gourevitch wrote in the Jewish Forward in 1993 of Rev. Sharpton's role in the Crown Heights riots of 1991: "Had he and his colleagues stayed away in the first place, the rioters, by all accounts a disorganized, uncoordinated crew of unemployed young men, many of whom did not even live in the neighborhood, might well have scattered the morning after the accident." He was referring, of course, to Gavin Cato's vehicular death, which led to a three-day pogrom in the borough.

Rev. Sharpton is the president of the National Action Network, which is primarily an activist political organization rather than one that deals with the everyday problems facing the black community. He appears on the scene whenever cameras are likely to be present and is almost as much of a photo hog as Senator Schumer. When the cameras disappear, is he still around?

Meanwhile, the real movers and shakers of racial equality around the globe get short shrift, even when their work is monumental. Although I have little respect for the United Nations — and I've always been of the firm opinion that America should get out of the United Nations and the United Nations should get out of America — I accepted an invitation from the CORE spokesman, Niger Innis, to attend a conference there on "Our Common Humanity in the Information Age." The closing reception included a wonderful performance from the stars of the stage production of "The Color Purple." Mr. Innis has worked tirelessly with U.N. agencies to improve the lives of Africans dying needlessly of malaria and malnutrition, and he's making headway.

Here in New York, CORE sponsored a program with Cabrini Hospital offering free, state-of-the-art cardiac scans to the black community to detect latent heart disease. Why wasn't this front-page news? Here was an opportunity for young black athletes to determine if they have a congenital heart flaw that may account for all those tragic sudden deaths at sporting events that we read about.

Earlier this spring, CORE sponsored a health fair in Times Square. Did you read about it anywhere other than here in The New York Sun?

The Congress of Racial Equality, at 12th Street and Broadway, has numerous programs to help the needy better their lives through job training, education, and employment assistance. It is a true nonprofit.

Next time, dear reader, don't call Rev. Sharpton, call CORE at 212-598-4000.