Rev. Al Sharpton responded Thursday to news that two police officers were shot and wounded in Ferguson, Mo., by saying he’s frustrated.
Sharpton — an MSNBC host and Obama administration adviser on racial issues known for his roles in false rape accusations against New York cops in the 1980s and in stirring up the 1995 protests outside a Jewish-owned store in Harlem that ended in an arson and multiple murders — said violence only hobbles efforts by the town’s residents to come together following last year’s shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
Sharpton’s comments Thursday morning came in response to a question from “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough.
“Al,” he said, “this has got to be terribly frustrating for you and a lot of people that protested there peacefully for this long, especially on a night that should have been a night of celebration.”
“No doubt about it. You know, just hours before the attorney for the family of Michael Brown, Benjamin Crump, was on Politics Nation with me in Chicago. And we were saying how the protests helped to lead to a climate where the Justice Department would come in in the first place,” Sharpton responded.
“There wouldn’t have been an investigation. And we were commending a lot of those that had continued those protests, nonviolently. And then this happens. Now, we don’t know whether – we will find out later. Let’s be real clear. We’re not saying the protesters have anything [to do] with the shooting or not,” he said. “We don’t know. But absolutely, unequivocally, no one that I know involved in the protests or the Brown family would condone shooting at police, shooting police, and hopefully these two policemen — or any other violence.”
Sharpton arrived in Ferguson last year amid widespread rioting that followed Brown’s death in August at the hands of Officer Darren Wilson.Brown was unarmed at the time but had apparently robbed a convenience store shortly before the encounter.
Eyewitness accounts and physical evidence ultimately established that Brown and Wilson had been engaged in a physical altercation at the time of the shooting, but initial reports claimed that Brown had been raising his hands in surrender — giving rise to the nationwide “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” movement and a special focus on the tragedy from the Obama administration.
Wilson was not charged with any crime, and a Justice Department investigation found no grounds for a civil rights charge. He left the force in 2014, and Ferguson’s chief of police stepped down Wednesday.
Sharpton’s involvement in Ferguson following Brown’s death has drawn sharp criticism from commentators and reporters in right-leaning circles.
Breitbart News referred to Sharpton Thursday as a “serial inciter.”
Earlier, in November 2014, Fox News’ Megyn Kelley accused Sharpton of “stoking” racial tensions in the small Missouri city, charging the MSNBC host with distributing “misinformation” to protestors.
“Ferguson burns because of, in part, a mindset that was created by Al Sharpton, by Eric Holder and the president,” Fox News’ Sean Hannity added one month later.
“[D]espite all the protestations and all the people literally throwing their hands up and saying, ‘Not me, not me,’ instead of ‘Don’t shoot, don’t shoot.’ They’ve all got blood on their hands,” conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said following the brutal and racially motivated execution of two police officers in New York City in December last year. “The mayor of New York City, blood on his hands. The Rev. Al Sharpton, blood on his hands.”
Hours after the two police officers were shot and wounded in Ferguson, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder issued a statement Thursday condemning the attacks.
“This heinous assault on two brave law enforcement officers was inexcusable and repugnant. I condemn violence against any public safety officials in the strongest terms, and the Department of Justice will never accept any threats or violence directed at those who serve and protect our communities,” he said, characterizing the attack as “cowardly.”
