Salon writer D. Watkins has a post titled “Who is the white Al Sharpton?” A better question is who elected Al Sharpton as the voice for all black people in America? Let’s think about this.

The article begins problematically:

Who is the white Al Sharpton? I ask this with all sincerity, and a bit of frustration. Who are they, and where do they hang out?

It’s hard to take a writer seriously when he begins an article with such a grammatically incorrect premise. I’ll fix it and then we’ll discuss the rest of the article:

Who is the white Al Sharpton? I ask this with all sincerity, and a bit of frustration. Who is he, and where does he hang out?

That’s better. Now. What else does Mr. Watkins have to say?

Sharpton is not the ceremonial leader of the Negro Nation, though some people do follow his guidance. Personally, I’d be lying if I said I’d ever run into a problem or issue I couldn’t overcome and said, “Aw man, I wonder what Al Sharpton would do?”

Despite my feelings about joining the Rev’s movements, he is undeniably a prominent figure. Sharpton has a show on MSNBC and serves as a regular contributor to multiple television shows. He’s been the face of resistance against police violence for decades. Democrats with presidential ambitions make it a point to pencil in dinner with him before primary elections­­, as he and only he holds the keys to the black vote — or so they think. The question we should all be asking is how did Sharpton grow to hold these magical African-American keys which actually don’t exist?

Al Sharpton has his own show on MSNBC now, but he has been a media fixture for decades. He began his ascent years ago by ingratiating himself with the power structure. Vice.com vice president Michael Tracey wrote about this in 2014:

At times, Sharpton has certainly helped provide needed services to traumatized, grieving, and financially despondent victims of NYPD violence. But he has all too frequently used such endeavors to promote lies and slander, always to the convenient effect of heightening his own stature.

And:

That someone with such an extensive record of deceit, lying, and fraud as Sharpton now occupies a position of such prominence says a lot about the fundamental ethical rot at the heart of elite US political culture. In all likelihood, the people who enable Sharpton privately find him a complete moron, but nevertheless understand his vacuous bombast is good for business. Such people therefore offer restrained praise for Sharpton in public, appear at his fake charitable functions, and pretend that he represents some kind of oh-so-very important “voice.”

Total truth, right there.

In addition to perpetrating the Tawana Brawley rape hoax, Al Sharpton is responsible for seven deaths after inciting violence at the Jewish-owned Freddy’s Fashion Mart in 1995. Sharpton spews venom every time he opens his maw.

The current power structure handed Sharpton the “magical African-American keys” and it is in the best interest of the power-holders to see that Sharpton has the only set. Although he denies, it Al Sharpton sold out years ago:

So, who is the white Sharpton? From the article:

“Bro, it’s Ellen; hands down!” a colleague told me. “She has white people on lock, kind of like a White Oprah.”

“Whoa-prah?” I responded. “Woke-prah!”

“I love Ellen,” I continued. “How great would our country be if she had Trump’s job?”

We laughed because we’re silly, or at least I’m silly. We laughed because the whole conversation is silly. The fact that everyone is finally acknowledging that African Americans are not a monolith — while still treating us like a monolith — is silly. There is no white Al Sharpton, just as there’s no Asian Al Sharpton. Nor is there a Hispanic Al Sharpton or an LGBTQIA Sharpton (not even Ellen can claim tha title).

There is no white, Asian, Hispanic, trans or Pacific-Islander Sharpton. The media power brokers and the political class do not assume that any of these Americans are a monolithic, single issue group. The media and political types are racists. I know, that word gets thrown around way too much. Marta is current working on a racist post (Part Deux) for Victory Girls. Keep checking back for that one.

Look at it this way, former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice isn’t a keyholder because she doesn’t spew the accepted black group-think. No group of Americans is monolithic. No two Americans think exactly alike. Heck, I don’t even agree with myself all the time. Time to take back the keys and kick Sharpton to the retirement home. Stop watching his show and donating to his “charities” and the media will begin looking for a new keyholder. Divide up the keys. Don’t let them do it.

Photo Credit: Al Sharpton by David Shankbone/Creative Commons by SA 3.0/cropped