Yeah, Sharpton's gonna burn this motherfucker down . . .

[cherokeeprogressive]

28. I can't speak to the mind of the poster, but I think given Sharpton's history it's not unreasonable

for people to get nervous when he uses the word "escalate" or "take it to the next level". Sharpton's words haven't always been intended to salve exposed nerves.

Everything I've ever read about Sharpton's presence and his chants of "No Justice, No Peace!" helped only to intensify the Crown Heights riots which started shortly after a Hasidic Jew lost control of his car and accidently killed Gavin Cato. At Cato's funeral, Sharpton's words were

"Talk about how Oppenheimer in South Africa sends diamonds straight to Tel Aviv and deals with the diamond merchants right here in Crown Heights. The issue is not anti-Semitism; the issue is apartheid. . . . All we want to say is what Jesus said: If you offend one of these little ones, you got to pay for it. No compromise, no meetings, no coffee klatsch, no skinnin' and grinnin'."

Every time I hear Occupy protesters chant "Whose streets? OUR streets!", it bothers me because that's what was chanted during the Crown Heights riots.

Angelina Marrero, Cynthia Martinez, Luz Ramos, Mayra Rentas, Olga Garcia, Garnette Ramautar, and Kareem Brunner all died as a result of another of Sharpton's protests; the aforementioned Freddy's Fashion Mart incident. What started as a rent dispute turned into an eviction, and Sharpton turned it into a racial matter. Sharpton's words, which included describing Jews as "the white interloper" served to ratchet up the racial tensions. The whole thing came to a head on Friday, December 8th, 1995 when Roland James Smith, Jr., who had been part of the Sharpton's protests, walked into Freddy's Fashion Mart, pulled out a gun, ordered all the black customers to leave, spilled paint thinner on several bins of clothing and set them on fire... a fire that resulted in killing 7 people plus Smith. The only African American left in the store was Freddy's security guard Kareem Brunner, 22-years-old, who was ordered to stay by Smith.

So if some people are intimidated when Sharpton comes to town, makes demands and backs them up by the words "escalate" or "take it to the next level", I don't necessarily think bad of them. These demands and words though are NOT what I'd consider "positive activism".