“A report on ESPN's Outside the Lines this morning contains news that could generate some major controversy regarding NCAA policies with respect to female athletes. According to the report, some schools have written policies saying any student-athlete who becomes pregnant will lose her athletic scholarship, and that many athletes have abortions because they don't want to lose their scholarships.
“At Clemson, seven athletes told ESPN they had abortions. There are apparently no firm rules governing how colleges or the NCAA deal with pregnant athletes, but many athletes say it's clear to them that if they want to continue to have a scholarship, they can't miss playing time because of a pregnancy. Syracuse forward Fantasia Goodwin played last season while she was seven months pregnant and hid that fact from the team.
Tawana Brawley controversy
On November 28, 1987, Tawana Brawley, a 15-year-old black girl, was found smeared with feces, lying in a garbage bag, her clothing torn and burned and with various slurs and epithets written on her body in charcoal. Brawley claimed she had been assaulted and ***** by six white men, some of them police officers, in the village of Wappingers Falls, New York.
Attorneys Alton H. Maddox and C. Vernon Mason joined Sharpton in support of Brawley. A grand jury was convened; after seven months of examining police and medical records, the jury determined that Brawley had fabricated her story. Sharpton, Maddox and Mason accused the Dutchess County prosecutor, Steven Pagones, of racism and of being one of the perpetrators of the alleged abduction and ****. The three were successfully sued for slander and ordered to pay $345,000 in damages, the jury finding Sharpton liable for making seven defamatory statements about Pagones, Maddox for two and Mason for one.
Crown Heights Riot
On August 19, 1991, the Crown Heights Riot occurred after a car accident involving the motorcade for the Lubavitcher Rebbe, killing a young boy named Gavin Cato. 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 and his cousin Angela were picked up soon after by a city ambulance. Caribbean-American and African-American residents of the neighborhood then rioted for four consecutive days fueled by rumors that the private ambulance had refused to treat young Gavin. A visiting rabbinical student from Australia by the name of Yankel Rosenbaum, 29, was killed during the rioting by a mob shouting "Kill the Jew." Sharpton has been seen by some commentators as inflaming tensions with remarks such as "If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house" and referring to Jews as "diamond merchants."
Sharpton marched through Crown Heights and in front of "770", shortly after the riot, with about 400 protesters (who chanted "Whose streets? Our streets!" and "No justice, no peace!"), in spite of Mayor David Dinkins' attempts to keep the march from happening.
Freddie's Fashion Mart
In 1995, Sharpton led a protest in Harlem against the plans of a black Pentecostal Church, the United House of Prayer, which owned the retail property on 125th Street to ask Fred Harari, the Jewish tenant who operated Freddie's Fashion Mart to evict his longtime subtenant, a black record store, The Record Shack. Sharpton told the protesters, "We will not stand by and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business." On 1995-12-08, Roland J. Smith Jr., one of the protesters, entered the store with a gun and flammable liquid, shot several Jewish customers and employees inside the store and burned it down. He killed seven in the store, and himself. Sharpton claimed that the perpetrator was an open critic of himself and his nonviolent tactics. Sharpton later expressed regret for making the racial reference, "white interloper," and denied responsibility for inflaming or provoking the violence.
LoanMax spokesman
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.
On December 7, 2005, he ended his relationship with LoanMax. In a letter to Rod Aycox, LoanMax president and chief executive officer, Sharpton said, "I respectfully, but firmly decline your offer for further engagement on my part, and will not engage in any business relationship to promote auto lending with LoanMax." Sharpton said he had not done the research before agreeing to the commercials.
Duke lacrosse players
In April, 2006, Sharpton went on the public stage calling for the prosecution of three white Duke lacrosse players who had been accused of sexually assaulting an African American woman, Crystal Gail Mangum, who was hired as a stripper at an off-campus party. Sharpton appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, taking the side of the Ms. Mangum and defending prosecutor Michael Nifong, saying "I know this DA is probably not one that is crazy. He would not have proceeded if he did not feel that he could convict. So it tells me that all of what you said is either not true or he has convincing evidence that would certainly knock that out." The accused players were later exonerated in light of evidence that the Ms. Mangum was lying; DA Nifong, was removed from the case and is facing possible disbarment for unethical conduct. Sharpton refuses to apologize.
Response to Don Imus' slur
On April 7, 2007, Sharpton called for the firing of radio host Don Imus. On his morning radio show, Imus in the Morning, the host had referred to the women's basketball team at Rutgers University as "nappy-headed hoes." On April 9, Imus appeared on Sharpton's radio show. Again, Sharpton indicated that Imus should be fired, asking Imus if he was ready to sign his resignation. The following morning, Imus and Sharpton went head to head once again on NBC's Today Show. On April 11, MSNBC dropped its simulcast of the show. On April 12, Imus was fired by CBS, effective immediately. Some, including The Kansas City Star journalist Jason Whitlock, have criticized Sharpton for using the situation "to step on victim platforms and elevate themselves and their agenda" when he should instead be focusing on other issues like the effects of hip-hop culture such as gangsta rap. Whitlock further accused Sharpton and Jesse Jackson of "exploiting [the Rutger's women's basketball team], making [...] the problems much bigger than what they should be." Sharpton has received death threats from angry fans of Don Imus' show, causing him to increase personal security.
Accusations of racism, homophobia, and bigotry
Many conservative and liberal commentators have accused Sharpton of being racist and homophobic. Sharpton was quoted as saying to an audience at Kean College in 1994 that, “White folks was in caves while we was building empires ... We taught philosophy and astrology and mathematics before Socrates and them Greek homos ever got around to it.” Sharpton defended his comments by noting that the term “homo” was not homophobic but added that he no longer uses the term. Sharpton's defenders have said that the the quote is often used out of context to undermine Sharpton's image. Sharpton has since called for an end to perceived homophobia in the African-American community. On May 8th, 2007 Sharpton was accused of bigotry in his remarks against presidential candidate Mitt Romney's religion (Mormon). Sharpton said:
"As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don't worry about that; that's a temporary situation."
Romney's spokesperson told the papers, "America is a nation of many faiths and common values, and bigotry toward anyone because of their beliefs is unacceptable." On May 9th, 2007, Al Sharpton appeared on Paula Zahn NOW on CNN and stated that his views on Mormonism were based on their traditionally racist views regarding blacks and the so-called "Curse of Ham". However the Catholic League (!), is calling for the end of Sharpton's career in regards these remarks . Al Sharpton recently appeared on the Glenn Beck Television program to discuss his comments about Moronism. Glenn Beck a professed Mormon wanted Al Sharpton to explain his apparent bigotted statements about Mormonism. During the program Al Sharpton said he plans on visiting some of the Mormon leaders to learn more about the religion and apologized for any Mormon's he may have hurt by his comments.
"As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don't worry about that; that's a temporary situation," Sharpton said Monday during a debate with Hitchens at the New York Public Library's Beaux-Arts headquarters.
