Call it “Martin Luther Cringe Day.”
Speaking before a predominantly black audience on Monday at the National Action Network’s Harlem headquarters, Al Sharpton invoked racist stereotypes that would have gotten a white man in a world of trouble.
.@TheRevAl made some unusual comments in his #MLKDay speech. https://t.co/Pfa3a4z55x pic.twitter.com/vhVSlAEtAa
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) January 19, 2016
Sharpton was reportedly trying to make a point about community involvement at his annual King Day Public Policy Forum on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, according to the New York Daily News.
“A lot of folks don’t believe in public policy,” he said. “But this is not their holiday. This is Dr. King’s day. This ain’t your birthday. And Dr. King was about public policy.”
Echoing a familiar tune, Sharpton then tied King to the union-led fight for a $15 minimum wage, with a helping of “chitlins and watermelon.”
“On your birthday, we’ll eat chitlins and watermelon and drink some sweet iced tea because that’s what you do,” Sharpton said. “But on his birthday, on his holiday, we do what King does. We’re going to march. We’re marching about minimum wage. Fifteen dollars-an-hour minimum wage.”
It’s not clear who he was referring to or if he had an ax to grind. Then again, trying to impute logic on the MSNBC host’s thought process can be a challenge in itself.
Sharpton later claimed that he was “mocking people who take holidays to eat bad food and play into old stereotypes.”
When asked if it would have been wrong for a white person to mention ‘chitlins and watermelon,’ he fell back on the typical double-standard rhetoric the left is infamous for.
“Probably yes, because you’re talking about stereotypes,” he said. “I’m talking about a debate we got going on about food.”
Based on the reaction from social media, the race-hustler’s sphere of influence continues to shrink among those who are paying attention. Here’s a sampling of responses from Twitter:
@NYDailyNews @TheRevAl Does anybody really expect Sharpie to contribute anything of value at this point? Really?
— I, BANTOR (@I_BANTOR) January 19, 2016
@NYDailyNews @TheRevAl Does anyone think the real MLK Jr would have enjoyed the talk and its content?
— bob abrams (@whipperbob) January 19, 2016
@NYDailyNews @TheRevAl Has he apologized to Steve Pagones yet for making up the Tawana Brawley fiasco?
— Artemis Gordon (@ArtemisGordon1) January 19, 2016
@NYDailyNews @TheRevAl the most irrelevant person on the planet.
— Dan Bergan (@BlacBirdwatcher) January 19, 2016
@NYDailyNews Al Sharpton is a moron. Why expect anything different?
— I, BANTOR (@I_BANTOR) January 18, 2016
@NYDailyNews al charlatan needs to go away
— Chatty Labelle (@VladimirBoobtin) January 19, 2016
@NYDailyNews al charlatan needs to go away
— Chatty Labelle (@VladimirBoobtin) January 19, 2016
@NYDailyNews Sharpton is a paid FBI informant. A stooge to stoke racial problems on behalf of the govt and media.
— el cordobes (@sixbravebulls) January 18, 2016
@NYDailyNews – possible Alzheimer’s ?
— Sharon L. Andrews (@slandrews) January 18, 2016
@NYDailyNews it’s like blacks calling each other by the n-word; don’t try this if you are a white guy, or Rev Al will have a talk w/ you…
— Robin Little (@RobL777) January 18, 2016
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