This is why I can't understand

[HL]

yuh slippery lik-a okro

(and yes I know is OkrA)

[Mosiah]

HL, is not all the time we can discuss some things on a Forum such as this. When people misunderstand you, is grief fi months after that. Face to face discussions allow you to explain yourself better and to fix things on the spot.

[HL]

100% agree!!

The forum is (pretty much) 2-dimensional. Das why from a longer time...I just let some things slide.

[Mosiah]

So yuh a okra too!

Seeitdeh!

[Historian]

Timely Post

In 1987, black teenager Tawana Brawley claimed that six white law enforcement officers abducted and raped her. Those claims and others that her attackers had scrawled racial insults on her body and smeared her with feces were declared a hoax by a grand jury that also exonerated the man at the center of the accusations, then-assistant district attorney Steven Pagones.

Pagones was named as one of the attackers by Miss Brawley's advisers: Maddox, the Rev. Al Sharpton and lawyer C. Vernon Mason. While Miss Brawley refused to speak with authorities or the media, her advisers were soon making wild claims. Jury selection was supposed to have started for the Pagones defamation lawsuit, seeking more than $150 million from Miss Brawley's three advisers when Maddox accused then-state Attorney General Robert Abrams of masturbating over photos of Miss Brawley. Sharpton compared Abrams, a Jew, to Adolf Hitler. All three linked then-Gov. Mario Cuomo to organized crime and the Ku Klux Klan.

But the grand jury within a year announced the story was a hoax and specifically cleared a Fishkill police officer and Pagones.

This is a timely reminder. Good post, Hortical, boss.

[Rockman]

It means nothing, he, like most, was duped by Tawana and reacted in his typical fashion;if he played a role in crafting the deception then that would be a problem. Central Park Jogger case, NY finest detectives forcing youngsters to falsely implicate themselves and each other in a serious crime which resulted in wrongful lengthy convictions. The tragedy occurred solely because of the actions of the police officers,wasn't the District Attorney for Manhattan duped? Where is the said stigma for the DA office?
There is an effort to discredit our civil rights activists by the powers that be, and unwittingly,you are helping.

[Mosiah]

There are some who have written off Sharpton because of Tawana Brawley. Sharpton is much bigger than that and has moved on from that story.

I challenge any one of us on this Forum to put up our resume against the Reverend's.

[Islandman]

Wouldn't say it means nothing. Sharpton labelled a lot of people as criminals and racists without any evidence. HE WAS WRONG. I do not know if he has ever apologized for that, but if he didn't he should have.

That doesn't take away from the good work he has done. He has certainly mellowed and become a more effective civil rights leader in recent years.

[Rockman]

When Obama said the police officer acted stupidly regarding the incident of a dark skinned homeowner trying to enter his property...,Obama eventually distant himself from his comment,and more costly,it refrained him from voicing his opinion on other situations.Similarly, when Oprah was sued by the beef industry she won the case but will never criticize that industry again.
Sharpton never missed a beat.
The DA for Manhattan despite obvious cracks in the CP Jogger case pursued convictions.
Until the same level of scrutiny is applied..., as far as I am concerned,the Tawana matter is not a significant incident.
It was a terrible era regarding the plight of dark skinned people in NY,after that incident there were many cases that attest to we being disenfranchised;the vestibule killing of an african immigrant wrongly suspected for a rapist by detectives on the hunt, the Kevin Gato incident,the plunger cop etc.

[Rockman]

When Obama said the police officer acted stupidly regarding the incident of a dark skinned homeowner trying to enter his property...,Obama eventually distant himself from his comment,and more costly,he refrained from voicing his opinion on other situations.....Similarly, when Oprah was sued by the beef industry she won the case but will never criticize that industry again.
Sharpton never missed a beat.
The DA for Manhattan despite obvious cracks in the CP Jogger case pursued convictions.
Until the same level of scrutiny is applied..., as far as I am concerned,the Tawana matter is not a significant incident.
It was a terrible era regarding the plight of dark skinned people in NY,after that incident there were many cases that attest to we being disenfranchised;the vestibule killing of an African immigrant wrongly suspected for a rapist by detectives on the hunt, the Kevin Gato incident,the plunger cop etc.

[Islandman]

None of those things make it OK to publicly accuse people of things they did not do. Call for an investigation yes, demand that it gets attention yes. That is not the way Sharpton operated in those days. He has since changed.

Obama was certainly ill advised to get involved in that case publicly in the way he did given his position. I don't think he accused anyone of being a KKK member or Hitler though.

[Rockman]

Racism was always the theme...,the homeowner must have been up to no good because of his skin color,rather than the responding officer say, oh well it is a mistake, he duped the homeowner to exit his house making an arrest possible,strategies seemingly reserved for the disenfranchised.
A year or two ago, there was an incident in upstate NY in which the medical alert pendant of an elderly was accidentally tripped, the responding officers, there on a medical emergency, ended up (verbally) racially abusing and killing the person.
The climate of the time may have played a role in how Sharpton acted, of interest, at that time,more cops were arrested(making various stations infamous)than at any other period.
If someone makes an allegation against you of criminal wrongdoings, chances are you will be arrested and hopefully then prove your innocence.
Sharpton reaction to the Tawana incident is largely similar to the police's.