Sympathy for the devil: Leave Rev. Al alone!

Why did unnamed Obama supporters attack Al Sharpton? He's only asking questions that need to be answered.

By Debra Dickerson

Read more: Hillary Rodham Clinton, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan, New York Post, Opinion, Barack Obama

Reuters/Jim Young

U.S. senator and Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama (left) with the Rev. Al Sharpton in Washington, Jan. 25.

March 19, 2007 | Say it ain't so, Barack.

Say you didn't authorize it (or gloat) when your henchmen pulled down your elder's pants in public and tried to humiliate the Rev. Al Sharpton in the pages of the New York Post. Whatever Senator Obama thinks of a figure as controversial as Sharpton, black America must demand that he use his position to send a forceful message that neither mudslinging nor extortion will be the hallmarks of a historically disenfranchised group that has long condemned whites for their disgraceful political behavior. Just what the world needs -- more proof that power corrupts. With black support still in play among the leading Democratic contenders, rest assured they'll be watching to see how Obama responds to his supporters' attempts to marginalize (through the white media, no less) those blacks with the temerity not to worship him instantly as the anointed one.

Watching the growing pains of a black polity trying to grow itself up in this brave new post-civil-rights world is wrenching, but it proves the truth in the cliché: no pain, no gain. This juvenile, malicious and cowardly attack on Sharpton more than proves the point that managing their newfound political relevance is a tightrope walk that blacks have not yet mastered. Since blacks aren't going to stop being a crucial voting bloc anytime soon, it's crucial for them to ignore the slings and arrows of white derision and black group-think while they gain their footing and keep their eyes on the prize (to mix a few metaphors). The trouble, though, is in identifying exactly what the prize is: blacks elected to high office? black power-brokering and election of their preferred candidates irrespective of race? black cohesion regardless of individual preference or conscience? or how about the maturation of black intellectual, political and moral authority?

I vote for the last option, maturation -- so hang tough, Reverend Al. And Right On to that meaty middle finger you've offered in response to black power's attempt to silence any who step out of line. White elites are certainly doing their part to squash black intellectual and political independence (man, do y'all hate it when we don't do as we're told), but New York Post columnist Fredric Dicker's anonymously sourced attacks on Sharpton highlight a worrying tendency among blacks to demand obeisance to a party line. I know the stakes are getting higher, with rising political figures like Barack Obama and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, but it should be illegitimate to demand lockstep loyalty within any interest group.

Feel free to peruse Dicker's contribution to the black cause, or trust my condensed version. Suffice it to say that blacks are no more strangers to silencing and schoolyard bullying than any other group. Supposedly "the high-profile, self-promoting" wannabe Sharpton, driven "crazy" by jealousy and failure, "has launched a 'big-time' effort to tear down" Obama, that white-backed poseur with no community ties, surrounded by shady nobodies. I'm surprised Sharpton wasn't fingered for dropping a dime on Obama's Marlboros and parking tickets. It's Sharpton as Salieri, the bitter, conniving also-ran. How did Dicker "learn" this? From "[a] prominent black Democratic activist who knows Sharpton" and "who supports Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton," from "another black Democratic activist," "a source close to [Sharpton]," "Democratic activists," and "a prominent New York official." Not one of these "knowledgeable sources," proof of Sharpton's venality clutched in their hot little hands, was willing to put his or her name where his or her big, fat mouth was. Please.

Sharpton, being Sharpton, wasted no time hightailing it to the OK Corral. He told CNN, "It's important to point out, they started this ... I wake up yesterday morning with no warning and [read] 'Is he jealous because he won't endorse?' I've never heard anything like that in my life in politics. This is one time I didn't start the fight." Sharpton went on to explain that he was withholding his endorsement until he got his questions answered on issues like Obama's civil rights agenda, why Obama stumped for Joe Lieberman (an Iraq war supporter), Obama's stance in support of tort reform and the like. "Why shouldn't the black community ask questions?" Sharpton asked. "Are we now being told, 'You all just shut up'?" Good questions, especially this one: Who's telling blacks to shut up? Other blacks, that's who, however much Obama's white supporters might agree.

Next page: Two words: Tawana Brawley