>>>What is the purpose of this observation?
>>>Why is what Al Sharpton says or doesn't say even worth mentioning?
>>>How does that affect what happened to the victim and what will or won't happen to his alleged killers?
>>>I'm not challenging what you say. I don't have cable news on TV and the news feeds I get haven't mentioned him. If they had, I wouldn't have taken the time to read it.
>>>I just can't see how what a preacher from Brooklyn has to say about something that happened in MO is of any interest to anyone who seriously wants to know what happened here.
>>>Can you enlighten me?
>>
>>Unless you subscribe to the theory that Sharpton might have played a role (however inadvertent) in Zimmerman being acquitted last summer in the Trayvon Marton case, my response probably wouldn't be of any interest to you.
>Then, it wouldn't.
>I don't have a clue about what the Brooklyn Reverend has done, ever.

IMO he is definitely a racial opportunist. AFAIK that is about all he is known for. To me that distinguishes him from Jesse Jackson. Jesse has actually done a lot of the good in the world. I will concede that even though I don't like his narcissism. (He is not popular everywhere in Chicago, that punch in the nose city as it was once described by Saul Bellow, a city which is still partly controlled by -- sorry, Mike C. -- racists). He overtly marched for civil rights back when it was dangerous to do so. As he knew well, having been an aide to Martin Luther King and right there when MLK was assassinated.

Now here is something from my evidently endless well of personal anecdotes. Some years ago I met a subordinate who lived in Colorado Springs at a hotel near O'Hare for breakfast before we headed downtown. Not a fancy hotel at all; some second tier place, but the breakfast buffet tasted good. We were led to our table and walked right past a booth where Jesse and some others were seated. The annual Operation PUSH conference was about to start there. I'm sure some of them were bodyguards but If I had a gun and was so inclined I doubt they would have been quick enough to stop me. That has to be a weight on a man's soul. He signed up for that and surely has accepted it. But still.

For those with an enjoyment of history I cannot recommend Taylor Branch's magisterial biography of MLK highly enough. It isn't just about him. In fact I think the subtitle is "America during the King years." It won many awards and IMO all of them were deserved. This is history of the highest order. And it reads just like a novel.

Sometimes I get passionate about books. I will order the first volume of the series for the first person who wants it, on the condition that you pass it on. It's really that good. Just as the title promises, it's a history of America during the civil rights era. Sometimes I try to tell my daughters what things were like then and they don't quite believe me. They have grown up in a different world. Maybe not different enough.

Anyway, the book lending program offer is good.