Rev. Al Sharpton is a man whom I do respect. I respect him because he is able to stand behind a cause while persevering to see the cause to the end. I respect him because I think that he is a genuine man who honestly believes everything that he says. I don't think that his motives are impure in that he is simply rallying Blacks and members of the democratic party for his own personal gain. And for that, I do respect him.
However, I completely disagree with his arguments and with his approach. In a recent article in the Darthmouth Online
Al Sharpton addresses the Bush administration and its inadequacies. The article mentions that Sharpton's remarks trail closely behind the upcoming MLK holiday. I find that personally disturbing for two reasons: 1) MLK never wanted to enforce a racial divide and 2) MLK represented positive empowerment of the people. Al Sharpton has stomped on both of these issues by bitterly reminding people of the past rather than invoking them to change the future.
For anyone to still complain about the
response to Katrina is absurd to me. There are other issues that these survivors have to deal with, and placing the blame is not one of them. Sharpton brought up the infamous Liberal Trump Card WMD in Iraq. But what so many people fail to realize is that "
[Iraq] Confirmed to UN in 1995 that it had a clandestine nuclear weapons scheme following revelations by Saddam Hussein's brother-in-law who had defected."
I give no credibility to arguments that simply criticize and point out inadequacies because such arguments do not aid the development of our nation. What we need to do as a nation - as patriots to the United States - is recognize our shortcomings and mistakes, correct them, and set up infrastructures that will keep such from reoccurring.