50 Years Post Selma Marches

18 JAN 2015 (original Patch post date)

January brings renewed hope (theoretically), the announcement of Oscar nominees and Martin Luther King Jr., Day. This year, Oscars and MLK align through the movie “Selma,” based on the 1965 voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, which were led by King and other organizers.

The announcement of what actors and films are up for awards, and the accompanying buzz and fanfare, usually is a time of excitement and many a gracious “thank you” and congratulations all around. I spend many hours in any given week reading and writing about discouraging situations – overpopulation, overconsumption, mass die-off of species, environmental devastation, mass unchecked illegal immigration, etc., etc. Since I was not born with the “Sports Gene,” “Awards Season” is my guilty pleasure. It’s a brief respite from the ugly world, complete with pretty dresses, handsome people and graciousness – the closest we have in the U.S. to a show of royalty.

So I was none too happy when Al Sharpton, professional gadfly, tossed the “turd in the punchbowl” last week. Sharpton, who has honed Jesse Jackson’s extortion racket, wasted no time to manufacture a controversy, calling for an “emergency meeting,” when, oh, the horror, it was learned that the lead actor and the director of “Selma” did not receive nominations for best actor and best director, respectively.

Apparently, that the film received a best picture nomination was insufficient to Sharpton (ditto “12 Years a Slave,” which took the Best Picture award last year, along with a Best Supporting Actress award), the man who made his “name” in New York City, and then beyond, on a fake rape charge by a young woman named Tawana Brawley. He exploited this lie shamelessly, and even after the hoax was revealed, he insisted that this very troubled girl, who appeared barely literate (she insisted, “No one manipinates me”), was headed to Harvard.

From New York City to Ferguson, Missouri, and just about anywhere Sharpton sees an opportunity to chum the water, he’s your man, which brings us back to this ugly intersection of Oscar and MLK, orchestrated by Sharpton.

Fifty years after the fight for Civil Rights and the marches from Selma, one does wonder what Martin Luther King would think of a shyster and huckster such as Sharpton, and others of his ilk who promote division and make extortive demands. Surely King would not approve, and he might even be shocked that Sharpton, a man of such questionable methods and reputation, would even be given a nationwide “news” show. At the end of the day, maybe that’s what Sharpton’s brouhaha is really all about: driving more people to his television show.

Given MLK’s long struggles and personal sacrifices for real change, it’s hard to believe he’d approve of these very visible distractions from promoters and con men when there continue to be so many challenges in the African-American community, including not enough jobs. The U6 unemployment rate for African-Americans was 19.2 percent in November; yet, the President continues to push for legalizing illegal aliens and creating more immigration that would undercut wages and jobs for Americans.

My guess is MLK would have wanted to see strong, committed and honest leadership that continued the fight for opportunity.