Why Al Sharpton Is Popular (And Why It's Hard To Hold Onto Hope)

At a BUILD alumni meeting a few months ago, we were discussing why the voices of the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are so popular among African-Americans when these men themselves have tainted pasts and often come across as self-promoting demagogues. When I discussed the angst I feel about having these men serve as the voice of the people, given their motives and pasts are not exactly pure, one African-American man asked, "Joyce, isn't any voice better than no voice at all?" At the time, I wasn't sure.

After the Don Imus-Rutgers U. Female Basketball Team incident, I found myself cheering Al Sharpton on as he demanded disciplinary action of the racist radio host. At the time, I did not care about Sharpton's questionable history at all; I was simply grateful that someone was horrified by the same injustice I was, and cared enough to speak up and to speak out.

My gratitude soon turned into sadness, though, when I waited day after day for members of the evangelical community to say something about this incident. Not only were the folks silent who I expected to be silent (the James Dobsons, Jerry Falwells, and Pat Robertsons of the world, and those like them), but folks I expected to speak up were quiet as well. No blog entries expressing horror and disgust over Imus' clearly stereotypical views. Nope. I wonder why. Maybe a desire not to be 'negative'. Now I can see why Black Muslims were so popular in the sixties.

I also thought about my best friend Barbara, who attended Rutgers U. as an undergrad many years ago. She told me about a time when her white roommate, unbeknownst to her, copied her paper, and how their professor automatically assumed she was the person who cheated. The professor called Barbara in and chided her for copying from the white roommate. The look in Barbara's eyes as she explained how it didn't even enter her professor's mind that she had actually been the bright and hard-working one, was pretty painful to see. The expectation of being incompetent, of being 'less than', is truly devastating.

So whether degrading views are voiced based on intelligence, or based on appearance (as in the case of the basketball players), great damage has been done.

Reminds me of this Countee Cullen poem entitled, ironically, "Incident": (and not knowing who Countee Cullen is is another sad commentary on Blacks being ignored in America)

"Incident"

Once riding in old Baltimore,
Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,
I saw a Baltimorean
Keep looking straight at me.
Now I was eight and very small,
And he was no whit bigger,
And so I smiled, but he poked out
His tongue, and called me, "Nigger."
I saw the whole of Baltimore
From May until December;
Of all the things that happened there
That's all that I remember.