Monday, April 09, 2007

Do as I say, not as I do

There's a lot of hubbub surrounding the inappropriate
remark by Don Imus calling the Rutgers University
women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" and
rightfully so. There's no room for racism in society.
Reverend Al Sharpton, among others, is demanding his
resignation. His apology is not enough.

More than likely, it is not enough, but this demand is
coming from the man who has never apologized for his
role in the Tawana Brawley hoax, and for his
hate-filled and toxic libel of an innocent man.

That man was Steven Pagones. In 1988, Mr. Pagones was
an assistant district attorney in the upstate New York
county where Brawley claimed she had been abducted.
Her story, that six white men had raped her over four
days turned out to be false. But Sharpton swore it was
true, and vehemently accused Pagones of being one of
the rapists.

"If we're lying, sue us," Sharpton taunted Pagones,
"so we can go into court with you and prove you did
it." Pagones did just that. He sued Sharpton, Alton H.
Maddox and lawyer C. Vernon Mason for defamation. In
1998 he was vindicated and the jury awarded $345,000
in damages. Maddox was disbarred following the suit.
Evidence indicated that there had not even been any
attack on her.

Sharpton is unrepentant about having incited the
Brawley hoax and the accusation against Pagones. He
still perpetuates that myth to this day.

Just when is an apology not enough? For sure, when
none is given.

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