Blue Spot

Jackson, Sharpton were right this time | BY MARY MITCHELL Sun-Times Columnist

Tell me something. How did the Don Imus meltdown turn into the Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton beat down? I've criticized both leaders when I thought they were on the wrong side of an issue. Still, I'm amazed at the furor aimed at Jackson and Sharpton over Imus' firing.

I've heard from readers by e-mail, posts and phone who were outraged over Jackson and Sharpton's role in protesting Imus' on-air racial slurs about Rutgers University's women's basketball team.

Both Jackson and Sharpton reported receiving death threats after Imus was dropped from MSNBC cable and CBS Radio. Last Friday, police had to evacuate Rainbow/PUSH's Chicago headquarters at 50th and Drexel after someone claimed to have planted a bomb.

Obviously, both of these leaders are carrying old baggage -- the heaviest for Jackson being his derogatory description of NYC as "Hymietown" in 1984, when he was running for president of the United States. His initial denial that he used the offensive language in a private conversation with a black reporter, and the aggressive support he received from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, sank his dreams of ever winning national office. Few can get in the door.

Although Jackson has remained welcome in a lot of prominent circles, the controversy shows how difficult it is to bury ugly racial slurs. "Before [Jesse] does his daily walks on NBC tower, I think he should look back on those words he spoke years back, calling New York 'hymie town'; [Jesse] let he who has not uttered racially/religious insensitive words cast the first stone," wrote Martin M. in a recent post on my blog.

As for Sharpton, he's managed to continue his career as a civil rights activist despite the negative outcome of the 1987 Tawana Brawley case. After Sharpton led angry protests over the handling of Brawley's rape allegations, it was determined that the 15-year-old black girl concocted the charges against six white New York police officers.

Sharpton and two of Brawley's attorneys were sued for slander and ordered to pay $345,000 in damages. Twenty years later, Sharpton critics point to this debacle as if it were yesterday. "This whole incident is a joke. . . . But to apologize to Al Sharpton? [T]he man who never apologized for the lives he ruined in the Tawana Brawley fiasco? . . . None of those self-appointed black leaders are worth a dime," said Ken in a blog post.

But most of us couldn't get an appointment with the head of a Fortune 500 company, let alone a meeting. Like it or not, Jackson and, increasingly, Sharpton, can talk with the heads of major corporations in the heat of a crisis involving African Americans.

Sharpton met with CBS Chairman & CEO Les Moonves shortly before Moonves announced that Imus would not return to his radio show. Jackson also met with corporate heads at both MSNBC and CBS. Others called for Imus to be fired.

The level of disrespect shown these men on the street doesn't match up to the power they wield in places where power matters. Maybe this is a generational problem. Maybe many of the people who are tearing down Jackson and Sharpton are ignorant of their real contributions in the African-American community.

They still have the ability to make those in power listen to the people who are often voiceless. With regard to the Imus controversy, it wasn't just Jackson and Sharpton making noise. Other major newsmakers and watchdog groups also called for Imus to be taken off the air, after a 30-year career. But it is Jackson and Sharpton who are being condemned for "injecting" themselves in this controversy. They are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Yes, both men should have more aggressively used their platforms to address vulgar rap lyrics. But they are not the only black leaders with a national platform. More important, while people are condemning Jackson and Sharpton for their lack of "moral standing," what responsibility do the rest of us have for this sorry state of affairs?

So many of us have supported the gangsta rap music genre either with our dollars or our silence, the work of more tempered artists can barely get air time. I'm grateful that Jackson and Sharpton didn't let their own mistakes stop them from getting involved. Maybe now more of us will do our part and keep those demeaning racial slurs out of our mouths.

© Copyright 2007 Sun-Times News Group

Labels: Race