VERDAD

In 1987, Al Sharpton represented Tawana Brawley, a black teenage girl, in the case that alleged that she was attacked and raped by a New York police officer, a prosecutor and a state trooper (Turley para. 1). Many argued that Al Sharpton rushed into protesting the "injustice" that occurred before gathering all the information about the case. Jonathan Turley writes in his article "Twenty-Five Years Later, Tawana Brawley Tracked Down in Virginia and Hit Roughly $500,000 Bill" says that the grand jury "found that the account was a hoax," meaning that the story and the evidence presented by Brawley was false (Turley para. 3). Al Sharpton’s actions caused "these men to be demonized in the relentless press conferences and marches" (Turley para. 7). One person who was affected greatly was 28-year-old Fishkill Police Officer Harry Crist, Jr., "who committed suicide a week after the false charges were made against him" (Turley para. 7). This is a prime example of how Al Sharpton’s actions are more negative than positive within the community and how not collecting all the facts can cause harm.

 

Today, Al Sharpton deals with cases the same way. Al Sharpton has been accused by many for not assessing all of the facts for a case. Megyn Kelly, a Fox News host, criticizes Al Sharpton for getting ahead of the facts. Like Bill O’Reilly, Kelly argues that Al Sharpton is not fully assessing the facts about the case before addressing the public. In the article "Megyn Kelly: Al Sharpton declared Michael Brown ‘didn’t use any deadly force’ against officer," by Katie Sanders, it says, " ‘If you have somebody come in and prejudge – someone you trust and rely upon – come and tell you the facts are one way, you believe him" (Sanders para. 7). Kelly continues by saying, "That’s why he is abusing his power" (Sanders para. 7). Al Sharpton falsely conveying the facts to the public is an abuse of power and also not a good example of the type of leadership that African-Americans need. Here is one speech Al Sharpton has made: