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

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

with his call for "an escalation in peaceful civil disobedience and economic sanctions."

Yeah, kill whitey. This is anger. A ballot or a bullet. Be afraid whities, here come the economic sanctions.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/Civil-rights-leaders-condemn-Sharpton-s-call-for-escalated-civil-disobedience/-/1637132/9863196/-/owq31pz/-/index.html

http://www.schnittshow.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=454847&article=9976302

Drudge shows a screaming Sharpton, with RED LETTERS underneath, "ESCALATION!"

In all seriousness, whatever. Maybe there needs to be civil disobedience; maybe there needs to be silence. I'm certainly not criticizing Sharpton. I think what he's doing makes sense. I just think it's idiotic about how the right wing will turn it into something potentially violent and dangerous.

I just find the headlines about "escalation" amusing. Oh, those angry black men calling for peaceful civil disobedience and economic sanctions. Hide your white women!!!! Good lord.

[Arctic Dave]

1. Yeah!!!

The great thing about gated communities is that you already have a fence to keep the criminals in, all you need to do is add the razor wire and guard towers.

Am I joking? We''ll see. Muahahahaha!

[blueknight]

2. well

sharpton does have the well deserved reputation as a race baiter and opportunist. and things down there are at a fever pitch so they could get ugly and violent. having said that, this young man was murdered, plain and simple and people should pay

[CAPHAVOC]

15. This is doing much damage to race relations.

Young people are wondering. I thought the idea was for all the races to stop "profiling". Those complaining about profiling are profiling. This is getting like the missile defense system. Or the Police Radar system. Profiling. Anti Profiling anti anti profiling. Anti anti anti profiling. Where can it end?
On top of it all. They cut the 911 call that implied that Zimmerman was responding to a question to describe Trayvon. Then the media cuts that out?
It is really hard to comprehend.
Maybe the answer is Anti-anti-anti-anti-anti profiling. I think this is not a good thing to hang the diversity hat on.
Maybe some are afraid that good race relations may happen.

[lunatica]

19. Wishful thinking?

Sure reads like it.

[lunatica]

20. Reverend Sharpton isn't a race baiter for your information

He's a civil rights activist. The NRA is an organization that's a race baiter.

Are you just giving yourself away in your enthusiasm to discredit reality grounded outrage? Are you defending Zimmerman?

[blueknight]

32. and he is and always has been a race baiter

i absolutlely think zimmerman murdered this young man. but that doesnt change the fact that al sharpton is, and always has used the race card to fit his own agenda. have you ever heard of TAWANA BRAWLEY?

[bigtree]

33. bullshit

[Redford]

35. I agree with you, blueknight

I, too, agree that Zimmerman murdered Trayvon, but I think Sharpton is a race baiter. He irritates decent white people who are not racist and this will not bode well for Obama in the election.

[Ecumenist]

31. RACEBAITER??!! Do you even kno0w that the word means?

What are we supposed to do? Just sit back and ignore the 8000lb gorilla sitting on the sofa? CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE isn't a) racebaiting nor opportunistic. He may have made missteps in the past but he's doing something in response to something that every person of color is all to familiar with. THINGS down there COULD get ugly AND VIOLENT? I think Trayvon's dead body is evidence that they've been ugly and violent for certain Americans for decades.

Google the history of Sanford Florida. Just might open your eyes...

[razorman]

3. Sharpton's done this sort of thing before, with tragic results. (i.e. Freddy's Fashion Mart).

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

6. Would you mind spelling out the logic herein?

"Sharpton's done this sort of thing before, with tragic results. (i.e. Freddy's Fashion Mart)."

What do you mean by "this sort of thing?" Do you mean non-violent protest? Or do you mean an apparent inciting to violence (the "white interloper" slur)? Do you mean vigilante justice? Do you mean inciting black violence against another minority (Jewish or Latino)? Sorry, your statement is just very ambiguous.

I need some sort of clarification so that I don't mistake your intended meaning.

Thanks.

[shrdlu]

14. Google Tawana Brawley...

...n/t

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

16. I know the case quite well.

But I'd love to have you spell things out for me so that I know where you're coming from. There are all sorts of implications to be derived from your brief post. But I'd hate to interpret your intentions the wrong way. Please connect the Brawley case to this one and Sharpton's call for peaceful civil disobedience. I want to make sure I can follow your logic here.

[lunatica]

21. I agree with ithinkmyliverhurts

Please clarify your comment. I'd like to see how one incident in a lifetime of the most positive activism discredits anybody. Or do you think racial activism is something bad? Please let us know what you're implying.

[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".

[bigtree]

34. that's just ridiculous.

That's just taking all of the negative and hateful characterizations of his actions and compounding them into some universal opinion. I don't believe there is such consensus about Al Sharpton among progressives. You can pull up whatever slant on these 'controversies' that he's been tagged with, but it's ridiculous to assume that he's stuck with whatever his critics label him as from their own version of the events you describe. This debate has been played out on this board many times. In my opinion, it just amounts to a smear. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I've never sided with those who want to dismiss the man, out of hand, based on media reporting and other nonsense which passes as truth around here and elsewhere.

And, no, I'm not going to debate it further.

[alp227]

4. Todd Schnitt, Hannity's younger competitor?

He should've stuck with that top 40 radio show he did as "MJ in the Morning" from the mid-'90s to the end of last year on WFLZ. And is he clueless about how civil disobedience was done during the civil rights movement?

In case you don't know about Schnitt, do realize his flagship station is WFLA, a Fox News-affiliated radio station in Tampa.

[dballance]

5. This is Dangerous. Cops and Zim supporters will be in the Sharpton Crowd

And they will cause trouble to make it look like Trayvon's supporters are violent.

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

7. This only assumes non-violent protestors can't contain themselves.

I'm not sure why we'd have to assume that.

[lunatica]

22. So?

Since when is violent reaction a bad thing in all cases?

[WillyT]

8. Oh Hell Man...

Sharpton is just stating a truth. When there is no justice... there is chaos...

The aftermath of the Rodney King decision...



More: http://tinyurl.com/7s34t8r

Does not matter if it is rational... it is what it is...

[CakeGrrl]

9. Sounds like racial paranoia brought on by massive guilt.

Or a call to take up those militia arms.

Or both.

[Canuckistanian]

10. Time to call in the SWAT teams to those Woolworth's lunch counters

It's anarchy.

[arcane1]

11. Oh no, he said "peaceful"! Run!!!!

[Mojorabbit]

12. There is a lot of tension here

and I hope that all remains peaceful so that no one else gets hurt. It is huge news here still and I don't see any lessening of that for the foreseeable future.

[lunatica]

23. Sometimes it doesn't remain peaceful

So what?

Why do people claiming the activism for civil rights and justice are always supposed to be peaceful. Sometimes it just doesn't happen that way. Sometimes the oppressed get righteously fed up and angry. Have you ever hear the term the "peasants storming the gates"? The oppressed do get violent at times. The 1% can't control everything.

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

24. Well, to be fair,

Sharpton was explicitly calling for "peaceful civil disobedience." It's the very idea of "peaceful civil disobedience" that is at the core of this post's mockery of the fear of violence being attributed to Sharpton's call for an "escalation" of "peaceful disobedience."

You may be right about a time for not being peaceful, but this post really wasn't about the ballot or the bullet; rather, it was mocking the fear-mongering of the right wing.

Now, to the post to which you are replying: why do you assume violence coming from a peaceful protest? Would you blame non-violence for the violence it "provokes?" This seems odd. Could peaceful protest raise awareness, and thus animosity? Yes. But do we blame peaceful exercise of free speech for this? I hope not. Violence belongs to those who exercise it.

[lunatica]

25. yet the most peaceful can react with violence which

doesn't negate their peaceful intent. It is, after all, human nature to defend oneself against violence.

I don't in any way believe that Reverent Sharpton would ever condone violence. But it does happen when oppressed people are provoked beyond endurance. Not everyone is a peaceful protester, yet you can't claim that only peaceful demonstrators have a just cause.

I was living in the Bay Area when the gay community reacted to the Dan White acquittal after murdering Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. I will never believe the gay community weren't provoked to the violence that ensued. I actually understand the reasons for it. No one was hurt but police cars were incinerated and the Civic Center was stormed.

Unendurable frustration happens.

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

26. I get where you're coming from.

But that's not peaceful protest.

Look, peaceful protest may not work or may be stupid. Fine. But it's peaceful. This is what Christ demonstrated, what Tolstoy taught, and what Gandhi and MLK lived. They won by showing the absurdity and nihilism of violence. Did they all wish to hit back? I'm sure of it (probably not Christ), but they didn't. That's why they won.

Can violence get things done? yes, of course. But it witnesses against itself and therefore allows for it propagation. Violence b=can never rid the world of violence since it takes violence to do so. This is the core insight of non-violence. And probably why so many of them die; we call them martyrs because they are witnesses (martyr in Greek means witness) to the violence of the world and the way in which they will not succumb to it. Better to be eaten by it than to participate in it.

[lunatica]

27. I am a believer in non violence as the best recourse

but I also refuse to stand in judgement of people who have endured much more than I ever have. Coming from a marriage where I was physically abused, I have to admit that there was violence in my heart at times. I understand women who have killed their abusive husbands. I truly do. There was a time when I thought I would have to resort to violence to keep from being killed or having my baby hurt. Had that happened I don't think I would have been able to control myself. I get where one can be pushed just so far. Fortunately for me it didn't come to that and when the opportunity came I left.

[CAPHAVOC]

30. Civil Disobedience

Was designed to overcome what MLK considered an unjust law. Specifically the Permit requirement in order to stage a parade. Then the arbitrary denial of the permit. I do not see the the connection. In this situation Sharpton seems to want to demonstrate because he feels that a certain citizen has not been arrested fast enough to suit his desire. The state seems to be trying to get grounds to arrest Zimmerman and is trying to develop a case against him. Wheres the Beef?

[Spazito]

13. Huh, so frozen turkey frying Schnitt is having a schnitt-fit...

situation normal for him. Anyone who tries to fry a frozen turkey setting a van on fire just doesn't cut it as a credible critic of anything, go figure.

[quaker bill]

17. Sanford is in bad shape as it is.

Sanctions will just hurt people that had nothing at all to do with this. No one is really exploiting anyone there. The City attempted, during the boom, to attract the wealthy, it really did not work. There are scant few wealthy people there, most are working class or working poor. The government is not functional, but it never was any better, and probably used to be worse.

The prosecutor needs to get about it before a great deal more damage is done.

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

18. "The prosecutor needs to get about it before a great deal more damage is done."

No doubt, this is exactly Sharpton's thinking and is why he is forcing their hand.

[NuttyFluffers]

29. no justice, no peace...

funny how these things keep repeating. you'd think justice would be cheaper by now.