Comments on: Sharpton Chimes In On Philly Cop Beating

Calls Taped Incident "Worse Than Rodney King"; More Officers Taken Off Street Duty

[imotorist]

Sharpton is not the national spokesman for any of our diverse citizens. Our local leaders pointed this out.

[pfd572]

I am disturbed by all the comments directed at the Police Dept. and not one comment by the parents or Rev. Sharpton about the suspects having been allegedly involved in a violent crime themselves. Were is the outrage over their victims? I would take their outrage and concern more seriously if they addressed the violent event that led up to the chase and arrests. The officers'' behavior was outrageous, yes. But the suspects behavior was just as bad, if not worse.

[rosesnpearls]

Well said, kennedy and easttx. Well thought out. Sharpton is a mockery.

[kennedy7955]

The parents are focused on the arrest and the beating, not on the fact that their son is a murder suspect. The inner city often look at crime and ensuing jail time as a rite of passage, almost as if their youth were going off to college. The crime of their neighborhoods, the terror and violence that is part of everyday life desensitizes the residents to the blight and warps their reality. The parents of a murder suspect are more concerned about a beating than the end of their son''s life - or the life that he has taken.

Al Sharpton is an demagogue, an opportunist seeking only self promotion, cares nothing of the true victims and has proven to get it wrong much of the time. Tawana Brawley and the Brown University Lacrosse team come to mind.

It is time that this country created a zero tolerance policy for crime and violence. African Americans are bearing the brunt of this violence and as a group are disproportionately the perpetrators and victims of this violence. Al Sharpton should be more concerned about this state of affairs.

Our country is so terribly broken and the real issues, like a policeman shot to death on the streets takes second place to a beating of the suspects. As a country we must look at our state of affairs and start being honest with ourselves about the country we live in and the country we want it to be.