Not all blacks are open to religious instruction. But, they persist - and we still ain't buying.
In a new MSNBC article titled, Sharpton schools rappers who have been ‘seduced by Trump’, Rev. Al (who's looking like a Funeral Director these days) offers rappers these bars - which, sadly, do not even attempt to rhyme - in an effort to increase our meager civil rights education:
"Let’s go to the 1990s, when five Black and brown young men were falsely accused of raping a white woman in Central Park. It was Donald Trump that took out ads in the papers in New York saying they should get the death penalty. So if they want to cite how Blacks have been abused by the criminal justice system, cite the case where we marched and eventually it was proven these five young men — that Donald Trump called on to get the death penalty — was in fact innocent."
OK, so Al's asking us to remember all of that - which means also going back in time to his unfortunate "James Brown" period - as we're considering what he's telling us now, in his more recent, more slick MSNBC-friendly guise. Fine. Whatever. None of this is pleasant for anyone involved, but I try to do as I'm asked, for my people: I do miss that medallion, tho.
As a black man, known A) to rap now and then B) to clearly remember these events, and C) to have also been seduced by The Dark Side, I took Al's call personally, and as seriously as I could.
Which wasn't much. The Central Park Five is an old story, I've heard too many times before, and always from dubious "spiritual" types. People who make a big deal of their religious background, but who are always proven not to be tied too-tightly to reality, or morality, as I understand them. The Uber-Catholic Joe Biden is a perfect example of who'd bring it up. And a perfect example of no one correcting him, or maybe knowing how to correct him, even when he's 100% wrong. The media wasn't clamoring to do it, then or now. It's crazy-making.
Exhibit "B": When They See Us, the Netflix movie executive produced by Obama's 2013 Medal of Freedom winner, Oprah Winfrey, the queen of NewAge, AKA being totally "out there," so not above telling a racist fib or two or three on film.
The woman who promoted a guy who killed three people, before she "moved on."
"Moved on" to her Best Life, which included telling this lie, which was a doozy.
Because - unlike in another Netflix movie (Oprah didn't produce) where she's promoting a rapist,...
When They See Us has her promoting five convicted sex criminals, and - because of her - people have totally bought it. I mean, one of these guys has now entered politics. Evidence be damned. How do you like them apples?
Evidence? Go back to the phrase "falsely accused": Before the cops even knew the nature of crime they were dealing with, one of the boys, Raymond Santana (purple scarf, above) said, "I had nothing to do with the rape. All I did was feel the woman's (breasts)." And, as Ann Coulter noted, "All five boys confessed - four on videotape with adult relatives present and one with a parent present, but not on videotape." So no one "accused" anyone of anything: they gave themselves away. That's inescapable reality, not a movie. So why are the CP5 free?
Because of Matias Reyes, the serial rapist who should be known as the Central Park Sixth. He was one of the lead actors in the attack, but not part of the CP5's group of friends. In prison, the CP5 forced him to take the blame for everything that happened that night, a bullshit confession that wasn't hard for authorities to accept since A) Reyes was the only one who left clear DNA evidence, and B) it would make people like Al Sharpton tone it down about America being racist. Hell, New York even threw in some walking around money. Problem solved.
So now it's Trump is a racist - which is toning it down by severely limiting the parameters - but brings us back to another now-long-standing lie blacks still ain't buying, because we deal in an identifiable reality, and morality. Some of us, anyway. The blacks with long memories. Who, nowadays, ain't always most rappers.
I'm glad to see you blogging again. And I appreciate this. A few more details: Reyes didn't make his false confession until after he was sentenced to life for an assault so brutal it doesn't bear repeating. That gave him clout only with those who wanted to free the Five for political reasons. Sharpton literally tried to kill the victim, rousing a mob to attack the secret van they needed to get her into the courtroom. Worst, though, was Oprah. I was watching the day the jogger visited the show to release her memoir -- remember she was in a coma and played no role in identifying anyone or details of the crime: she merely testified to her brain injuries and victim impact. Her book was just a story of her effort to rehabilitate her body and mind. Oprah had her on her show the same day Morgenthal announced that Reyes had confessed to the entire crime. The victim was told this right before she came onstage. Clearly a set-up by Oprah and Morgenthal. It was devastating to the victim: she was literally re-raped by Oprah and Morgenthal in front of live tv with millions of viewers.
ReplyDeleteHow could any human perpetrate such hatred towards a crime victim who had brain and body injuries that would never heal and had to go into hiding to protect her and her family's life? Again, thank you for this.
And keep talking.