This past weekend in Chicago, 26 people were shot, including a 16-year-old who died. Yet Al Sharpton is headed not to the Second City but to suburban St. Louis to protest the weekend shooting death of Michael Brown, who police say was killed while resisting arrest.

What happened in Chicago - black people shooting black people - is sadly routine and of secondary concern to civil rights industry operators like Mr. Sharpton, whose agenda is keeping the focus on whites and the supposedly racist "system." The Chicago shootings don't advance that agenda, so Mr. Sharpton is taking his talents to St. Louis, where he will put racial solidarity ahead of condemning bad behavior and pretend that our morgues are full of young black men due to miscreant police officers.

The reality is that blacks are 13% of the population and half of all homicide victims - 90% of whom are killed by other blacks. The problem is not cops shooting blacks but blacks shooting each other. The problem is black criminality. According to police, this is what led to Brown's demise, and it is what the nation has witnessed in response to the killing: Black people burning down their own neighborhoods, stealing sneakers and Snickers bars to protest the death of someone who is accused of resisting arrest.

How soon before Michael Brown's name is immortalized in a rap lyric, even if it turns out that he was in the wrong, as the police are alleging? Today's ghetto culture not only indulges criminal behavior but celebrates it. And so-called black leaders are much more interested in making excuses for this behavior than they are in denouncing it unequivocally. It was not always thus.

Here's Martin Luther King quoted in Harper's Magazine in 1961. "Do you know that Negroes are 10 percent of the population of St. Louis and are responsible for 58% of its crimes? We've got to face that. And we've got to do something about our moral standards," he said. "We know that there are many things wrong in the white world, but there are many things wrong in the black world, too. We can't keep on blaming the white man. There are things we must do for ourselves."

There's something else, harder to discuss but, like so many such things, urgent nonetheless. Deep breath: The black community cannot pretend that the stereotype of black men as violent comes out of nowhere.

Young black men commit about 50 percent of the murders in this country, 14 times more than young white men. Or, where do murder rates among young white men go up each summer the way they do among black ones in cities like Chicago? "Flash robs" happen when large groups of teens beset a store and steal from it, and I'm sorry, but these are rarely white affairs.

There are reasons for things like these. However, we are being unrealistic to expect America to watch these things and think it's okay because the boys don't have Dads and decent-paying low-skill jobs aren't always easy to find. Let's face it: If Korean boys regularly did things like this, we'd all be scared to death of them.

Be clear: Michael Brown's murder was grievously unjustified regardless. And forget the tired canard that the black community doesn't care about black-on-black murder, which could only be leveled by someone who doesn't know much about black people. Stop the Violence events are a staple in black neighborhoods.

Yet, I wonder if the black community could step it up some on this. We need to devote some more energy to figuring out what we can do about The Violence, because among all else that it destroys, it feeds a perception bias that ends up killing innocents like Michael Brown.

Here is a commentary by black journalist Jason Riley titled "Sharpton's Search for Relevance".



In a commentary published by the Daily Beast, black American columnist John McWhorter writes the following:



So, is Al Sharpton guilty of running to put out a small fire while a larger fire burns?

Here is a commentary by black journalist Jason Riley titled "Sharpton's Search for Relevance".



In a commentary published by the Daily Beast, black American columnist John McWhorter writes the following:



So, is Al Sharpton guilty of running to put out a small fire while a larger fire burns?

I wonder of Rev. Sharpton will ever speak out against those other cases of racism.

differences between david duke and al Sharpton

not both were elected, repeat ELECTED , to public office
not both were members of the KKK
one speaks out for justice and the other is a separatist
one has worn Nazi uniforms and celebrated Hitlers birthday

but yeah, all discussion of race and justice is the same,,,,just race baiting,,,,

So basically you are saying one is honest, not hiding his intent, does not seek to manipulate thru the powers of public office, while the other, who has been proven to be crooked, corrupt, a liar and a fraud, seeking the power of public office and money over principle at the expense of his own people, is a better role model?

Liberal logic at its best!

Honest Al!

Not honest by any means, but not hiding it..... what I meant

that's odd,, cause I didn't think I used vocabulary behind a high school level

let me repeat what I was 'saying'


one was ELECTED (meaning a majority agreed with him) to public office
one was a member of the KKK
one speaks out for justice and the other speaks for separation
one has worn Nazi Uniforms and celebrated Hitlers birthday

these are facts,, not liberal or conservative logic,, just facts

one being a documented and consistent Nazi supporting separatist who STILL go elected to public office

the other being a public figure who has no chance of EVER being elected to office who speaks out for many issues INCLUDING racial equality and justice and social progress,,,,


the level of 'honesty' is about as relevant an issue as comparing an HONEST klu klux klan man with a dishonest husband

the integrity of being 'honest' isn't the cloud that covers and makes irrelevant the FACTS of whatever one is being 'honest' about,,,

yeah, he only PRETENDED to found civil rights networks all across the country,,,,

he only PRETENDS to be able to bring attention to and for families whose injustices may otherwise go unnoticed and uncared about

he only PRETENDED to work with MLK
he only PRETENDS to help advocate for voter registration and job training
he only PRETENDS to get investors to contribute to and invest in minority communities

yeah,, he is only PRETENDING to help,,,,


the dishonest race baiter

that's odd,, cause I didn't think I used vocabulary behind a high school level

let me repeat what I was 'saying'


...
one speaks out for justice and the other speaks for separation

these are facts,, not liberal or conservative logic,, just facts

,,,,


the level of 'honesty' is about as relevant an issue as comparing an HONEST klu klux klan man with a dishonest husband

the integrity of being 'honest' isn't the cloud that covers and makes irrelevant the FACTS of whatever one is being 'honest' about,,,