>BTW, as a non-Noo Yawker, I don't know much at all about Al Sharpton. But >his politics sure looks bad. I bet if he beat Giuliani he wouldn't be >allowed to run the city. Is Big MAC or a similar organization still running >the show? > >in pen-l solidarity, > >Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] > The Sharpton vote is interesting for what it says about the rising militancy of the black population. Sharpton is a demagogue but his speeches are much more radical than anything coming from the Messinger camp. Not only did Messinger have ties to the DSA, so did Dinkins. The problem is that these ties meant very little. Both Dinkins and Messinger are beholden to Wall Street Banks, real estate and law firms. Sharpton used to run as the candidate of the New Alliance Party, a psychotherapy/radical politics run by one Fred Newman. Their presidential candidate last go-round was Lola Fulani who does have some following in the black community. Sharpton was a paid informant for the FBI in the 1970s and does come across as a self-promoter, a left-wing version of Don King. Sharpton has never built a left-wing organization but preaches at an assembly hall once a week that is closed to the white press. The explanation for Sharpton should be obvious. He is the beneficiary of a vacuum of leadership in the black community. Some black militants were murdered and others were co-opted. In his grotesque manner, Sharpton in some ways represents the best of what black leadership in New York amounts to nowadays. Whenever there is an egregious outbreak of police brutality, you can count on him to call for a demonstration and indictment of the cops. He has been in the forefront of the struggle around Abner Louima. Louis Proyect
