T he C rimes of Al S ha rpton – P a rt 1

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In the Ta wana Brawley case, a 1 5-y ea r-old b lack g irl w as fou nd s meare d wit h fece s, lying i n a garba ge ba g, her clothing torn and burned and with various slur s and epithets writt en on her body in charcoal. Bra wley claimed that she had bee n assaulted a nd raped by six whit e men, some of them pol ice officers, in the town of Wa pping ers Fa lls, Ne w York.

Alton H. Maddox, C. Vernon Mason joined Sharpton in support of Bra wley. A grand jury was convened; after seven months of examining police and medical records,

the jury d ete rmin ed tha t Brawley lied a bout b eing assa ulted by the police. Sha rpton, Ma ddox and Ma son w ere later succ essfully s ued for st ate ments made in connection w ith the case, and ordered to pay $345,000 in damages.

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In 1989 and 1990 Sharpton again beat the odds. First, Sharpton beat a tax evasion rap, which he called a government vendetta. Then, in 1990, he was acquitted on charges that he pocketed more than half of the $250,000 he raised through the National Youth Movement.

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The C rown He ights Riot occ urred afte r a car accident invol ving t he motorc ade for the Lubavitcher Re bbe kill ing a young bo y Ga vin Ca to.

A riot was sparked after a private Hasidic ambulance came to the scene and, on the orders of a police officer, removed the Hasidic driver from the scene. Gavin Cato and his cousin Angela were picked up soon after by a city ambulance.

Ca rib bean- Americ an and Af r ic an- Am eri c an r esi d ent s o f th e nei gh b or ho od th en r i ot ed f o r f ou r cons ecutive days fuele d by rumor s (in part driven by Sharpton), that the pri vate a mbu lance had refused to t reat C ato. Al S harpt on became the de- facto represe ntative for the Ca to f amily. D urin g th e funera l he referre d t o " diamond merchants" cons idere d a code word for Ha sidi c Jews,

for shedding "the blood of innocent babies" leading marchers shouting "No Justice No Peace". Sharpton did not start the riots but his rhetoric was seen as inflammatory and unhelpful in easing the tension between the black and Jewish communities.

A v i s it i ng rab bi ni cal stud ent from Australia by the name of Yanke l Rosenbaum, 2 9 yea rs old, was killed during the rioting by a mob shouting " Kill the Je w" .

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In 2001, Sharpton served a three-month prison term for an act of civil disobedience consisting in illegally trespassing on U.S. property located on a bombing range in Vieques, Puerto Rico. Sharpton was imprisoned for protesting the United States Navy's ongoing bombing and target practices on the island.

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In November 2005, Sharpton appeared in advertisements for LoanMax, an automobile title loan company. Sharpton was criticized for appearing in the ads, as LoanMax has been accused of predatory lending charging fees, and for marketing them to primarily poor, urban and African American audiences. The ads featuring Sharpton were run in predominantly African American markets.