AMERICA IS ON TRIAL': Al Sharpton On Ferguson Protests

Rev. Al Sharpton gave a passionate speech in St. Louis on Sunday morning, where he sharply criticized the release of video allegedly depicting Michael Brown, the black teen recently killed during a police encounter, robbing a convenience store before the fatal incident.

"Michael Brown is gone. You can run whatever video you want. He is not on trial. America is on trial!" Sharpton declared at the Greater St. Marks Family Church, according to video posted by Fox 2. "I have never in all my years seen something as offensive and insulting as a police chief releasing a tape of a young man trying to smear him before we even have his funeral."

The relatively small city of Ferguson, Missouri, has been the epicenter of racially charged protests since Brown's death just over a week ago. Local police have aggressively cracked down on the demonstrations, wielding military-style weapons, issuing curfews, and arresting a number of protesters and at least two reporters.

Sharpton argued the U.S. faces a "defining moment" for how police authorities manage the protests.

"America as a nation, Missouri as a state, Ferguson as a city, is at a defining moment on whether or not we know and are mature enough to handle policing — whether it goes over the line or not. We cannot lecture nations around the world about how they handle policing and we have an inability of handling it in our own nation. All policemen are not bad; most policemen are not bad. But all of them are not right all the time. And when they're wrong, they must pay for being wrong just like citizens pay when they're wrong," Sharpton said.

In order to make his point, the civil rights activist condemned looting in Ferguson and challenged police to do the same when officers fatally shoot members of the public.

"Looting is wrong. We condemn the looters," Sharpton said. "But when will law enforcement condemn police who shoot and kill our young people? We got to be honest on both sides of this discussion."

I wonder how long pinhead Sharpton would be on trial if this were in China or North Korea. What an IDIOT!

Sharpton should be thanking God that he lives in a country that lets him spew his vile, ignorant shi**.

off topic
nice outfit : )
pink, my daughter would love it
better close this before she see's it

sorry, too late. That's Lilly, she lives in Dallas.

Sharpton is trying to be relevant.

It's a shame some allow him to be.

SHARPton is getting quite dull!

He is just a racist race baiter. They were demanding to know why and who from day one and once they got what they want (The officers name and the facts of what happened) they find out OPPPSSSSS, we didn't wanna know that after all.

I am curious where he gave the impression that he is not grateful for freedom of speech and assemtly? That is how he makes a living after all.

But of what 'relevance' is that to what he said and whether it is true. Wondering which part of what he said is so objectionable or racist?

Is it offensive and insulting to try to justify potential murder of someone with character assassination before they are even in the ground? probably, to those who love him.

Is he wrong about trying to lecture others about what we ourselves are not addressing here?,,,,,,nope


all policemen are not bad.... TRUE
most policemen are not bad... TRUE
ALL of them are not right all the time...TRUE
when they are wrong they should be held accountable,,,,,TRUE


Yeah, I think I see where the racism and divisiveness is in the quote provided,,, mostly in peoples media slanted minds,,,,

I have no problem with Rev. Sharpton being involved in the Ferguson controversy. I just don't see how he has improved anything by being involved.

This nonsense that releasing the video of Brown terrorizing that convenience store clerk being 'offensive and insulting' is typical.

I would agree if that incident took place 2 months ago..

It happened 20 minutes before he got shot.. It is relevant.

It shows Brown's state of mind immediately before the confrontation with the cop.

He just abused some much smaller man with no regard for right and wrong. He did whatever he wanted and when the clerk tried to stop his criminal act Brown responded by grabbing him around the neck and tossing him into a display case.

Then he allegedly is walking down the middle of the street obstructing traffic.

Now there is a video with a witness speaking in the background that Brown initially ran from the cop then inexplicably turned around, after the cop yelled freeze had his gun drawn and pointed at him and Brown proceeded to begin to walk or run at the cop.

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/08/168698-eyewitness-recalls-important-detail-background-video-mins-ferguson-shooting/

Whether you believe what is said in the video or not the autopsy done by Baden proves that Brown was not shot in the back like initially reported.

So he wasn't shot in the back while fleeing.. So that means one of two things..

Either Brown was indeed rushing the cop or he was standing there and the cop executed him in broad daylight in the middle of the street..

This is why the video is important.. Context and state of mind..

It's all a distraction! So now the issue of militarized police forces will take a back seat to a racial one now with the idiot Sharpie on the scene making it about race and not about SWAT teams invading our homes to serve warrants for parking tickets, shooting homeowners, their pets, and terrorizing children!

Leave it to Sharpie, the racist fool, clouding the issue for political and financial gain at the expense of not only his own people, but EVERYONE

Interesting Take on Mises about the Violence in Ferguson,and Inner City-violence in general!

http://mises.org/daily/6846/Police-States-and-InnerCity-Economics

Police States and Inner-City Economics

Mises Daily: Monday, August 18, 2014 by Ryan McMaken

The recent civil disobedience, rioting, and police brutality in Ferguson, Missouri reminds us of what happens when police states and bad economics are mixed together.

Devastated by decades of ruinous economic policies, the economies of many inner cities continue to languish as the self-ownership of local residents is treated with contempt by the police and any attempt at building a small business-based or wage-based economy is hobbled by government regulation.

The result is a local economy with chronically-unemployed wage earners coupled with entrepreneurs who lack the capital necessary to deal with government regulations. The social consequences of such a situation are dire and lead to a population that lives in the area, but is not invested in it.

Some conservatives have taken to asking why some of the residents are destroying their own neighborhoods through looting and other forms of violence. But of course, even if we make the obvious distinction between looters (a minority of the population) and the non-violent population, these are not “their” neighborhoods in any meaningful sense: the residents have not been allowed to attempt to build local capital or even have control over their own bodies..........


Needs more than a Loudmouth Snook like Sharpton to fix it!

This makes too much sense Conrad..

The government doesn't want their reliable voting base doing things for themselves.

They want them dependent.. They want to be able to fan the flames when the opposition to their big government policies demands accountability for the reckless spending..

Local communities taking control of their own destiny is the biggest threat to bloated centralized government..

To me that's what these riots are about. Basically there's very little accountability to the public for government actions. Government employees (from the president on down) should be subject to public internet trials where the public can vote on whether their actions were right or wrong and the consequences. The military should be responsible for enforcing the vote. This would probably solve a lot of problems and bring back balance.

ya had me until internet trials with the public

I have witnessed too much bias and idiocy amongst internet users to ever trust them to deliver anything close to a 'fair' trial

I don't see how we are 'improving' anything discussing things on the internet. But the point is, it is at least conversation and communication and I don't see how that 'hurts'. That coupled with someone being asked to show up and show support, makes the 'good' a pretty immeasurable consideration.

Hello,Posse Comitatus!

The Posse Comitatus Act is the United States federal law (18 U.S.C. � 1385, original at 20 Stat. 152) that was passed on June 18, 1878, after the end of Reconstruction and was updated in 1981. Its intent (in concert with the Insurrection Act of 1807) was to limit the powers of Federal government in using federal military personnel to enforce the state laws.

The Act, as modified in 1981, refers to the Armed Forces of the United States. It does not apply to the National Guard under state authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within its home state or in an adjacent state if invited by that state's governor. The United States Coast Guard, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security, is also not covered by the Posse Comitatus Act, primarily because although the Coast Guard is an armed service, it also has both a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency mission.WIKI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act

Military never has been a very good Lawenforcement-Agency!
British Army in N-Ireland,and the militarization of the Civilian Policeforces the World over have acutely shown this!