22 Oct 2014 Sharpton Sojourn to St. Louis to Push for Ferguson Indictment Lacks Reason, Promotes Tension

In the four days leading up to the mid-term elections (coincidentally, of course), MSNBC host Al Sharpton plans to move his political grandstanding to Ferguson, Missouri.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sharpton will go to Ferguson “to pressure St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch to file criminal charges [against Ferguson officer Darren Wilson] in Michael Brown’s shooting death” this past August 9.

Members of a grand jury, who have been examining the details of the shooting since late August, are expected to complete their work by mid-November.  Local officials are already worried about renewed violence if Wilson is not indicted, and recent leaks to the media that Brown’s wounds indicate he may have attacked Wilson and that he had drugs in his system don’t seem to bode well for prosecutors.

A four-day Sharpton visit surely cannot help keep tensions in Ferguson at a minimum.

Project 21 co-chairman Horace Cooper — a legal commentator previously interviewed over 50 times on the situation in Ferguson, including by hosts on 50,000-watt radio stations WHO-Des Moines, KOA-Denver and WBZ-Boston as well as the USA Radio Network, SiriusXM satellite radio and the Fox News Channel on television — had this to say about Sharpton’s upcoming sojourn to Fergson:

Sharpton can pretend that there is conclusive evidence that this was an unjustified shooting, but that’s not what the facts show.

Arguing that “the only gun at that scene was Wilson’s” is a non-sequitur.  Half of all officers killed in the United States are shot with their own gun.  The real issue is why is Michael Brown’s blood on Wilson’s firearm, and why was it in the patrol car?  A reasonable explanation is that Michael Brown was trying to assault the officer.

Sharpton’s alarmist rhetoric that fear of young black men is leading to frequent shootings is unfounded and unsupported.  He would better serve the nation if he went into urban communities and started a conversation about ending the gang-banger lifestyle and focusing on education instead.

The white-on-black shooting meme is a complete fabrication, and no one is helped by perpetuating the falsehood.