Jewish World Review August 14, 2003 / 16 Menachem-Av, 5763

Mike Barnicle

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Time for Al Sharpton to get serious


http://www.jewishworldreview.com | Al Sharpton was not quite 8 years old in August 1963 when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and gave one of the most famous speeches of the 20th century, "I Have a Dream."

It moved a lot of people, black and white. It made politicians sit up and take notice. It created a gasp of conscience among voters. And it helped push a whole nation toward progress on the always combustible issue of race, which still confronts and divides too much of the country.

Now, 40 years later, the Rev. Al is running for president. Of the United States. His candidacy offers hope to those who feel that not much has changed since that long-gone summer.

Why? How about the fact that he hasn't been laughed off any stage, where he is accorded the same status and gets the same time to answer questions or make preposterous statements as is given to John Kerry, Joe Lieberman, Dick Gephardt and Howard Dean? How about the fact that none of his opponents has had the common sense or courage to stop him in the middle of one of his rants to say: "Hey, Al, shut up and go away."

Sharpton is a smart guy with a specific message and a constant sore to scratch: No matter what the issue is, he can be counted on to turn it toward race. He did it again the other day in Iowa, when he complained that his candidacy wasn't being treated seriously by the media. How come? Because, according to the gospel of the Rev. Al, the people who run newspapers and TV are overwhelmingly white.

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"I think when you look at the lack of diversity from the editors and those in power, then you see them as automatically dismissive of anything that is not like them, which is white males," Sharpton told an audience in Sioux City, not exactly a melting pot. "I think we've seen some very blatant racial insensitivity in the coverage of this race so far."

What a load of nonsense. Are there two more overworked words in America than "diversity" and "insensitivity"? The fact is - especially at the largest newspapers - the word "diversity" appears more than the word "yesterday." Publishers and editors go out of their way to hire minorities and cover stories that affect people and communities that were long ignored.

But Sharpton does have a point when he yaps that a lot of the coverage has indeed been insensitive - and the reason absolutely is racial. See, sometimes white reporters feel awkward asking Sharpton - who talks a lot about the harsh realities of being black in America - about some of the serious problems that affect black communities: illegitimacy, welfare, joblessness, drugs, delinquency, the fracture of the black family and the continuing nightmare of too much black-on-black crime. Instead, he's asked about Iraq or the economy because those questions are proof the media are interested in diversity and sensitivity.

The truth is Sharpton is not a serious candidate. He's not going to win squat. He's like most of those on the California ballot for governor: a joke.

But he's missing an opportunity to do something constructive while he has all these media bigwigs afraid not to cover him, no matter how dumb he sounds.

He could talk about the sad state of big-city schools. Or the fact that it's hard to raise a family when there's no weekly paycheck. Or the terrible, hopeless feeling too many black children have as they sit in classrooms that are a dead end and walk home on streets lined with the walking dead or those who might soon be dead. People might even listen.

However, Sharpton can't do it because he's simply a cynical con man. He shows up wherever there's trouble, money or TV. He is a political ambulance chaser, running after a headline rather than a solution. He's in it to antagonize.

He's never going to tell anyone that a part - and only a part - of King's dream already has been realized; that the war on terror is being led by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Powell. That a black man, Stan O'Neal, heads one of Wall Street's oldest white-shoe firms, Merrill Lynch. That many colleges and universities have faculties and student bodies that resemble the complexion of the country instead of a country club. That we have more black mayors, politicians, editors, generals, corporate executives, movie stars, novelists, reporters, columnists and educators than ever.

To do that, though, would mean the Rev. Al would have to get a new act to replace the increasingly tedious and predictable scam he's been running.

He'd have to admit something that's obvious to anyone without a pessimist's politically correct agenda: that 40 years after King told us about his dream, America is the greatest, most decent, generous country on the planet, a land where race is still an issue but healing is no longer thought to be impossible.



Mike Barnicle is a columnist for the New York Daily News. Comment by clicking here.

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