Al Sharpton in Giuliani: Flawed or Flawless?

On Crime: Giuliani’s tone allowed Louima police brutality

Al Sharpton opined, “There was a tone. And the fact that something so vicious could be done by somebody like Justin Volpe in a police station with other officers there has to give you an idea of the mentality that the police must have had at that time, that they could get away with it. You’re not just talking about a psychotic guy that brought him down under the railroad tracks after dark; he did this in the precinct and no one turned him in, no one stopped him, no one made a move. And that’s frightening.

On Crime: NYPD “cowboy” unit disbanded after Diallo shooting

The Diallo movement got rid of the Street Crimes Unit. Clearly it had almost a cowboy mentality. It had no concern for civil liberties. To live every day in a community where you have to be afraid of the cops and the robbers is something I would not wish on anybody.

We hear Diallo’s parents came from Africa and were talking to Mayor Giuliani. Our fear was that Giuliani was going to try and get to the family and undercut the movement for justice.

On Drugs: Dorismond drug shooting shook the family by accusing victim

Giuliani attempted damage control. A juvenile record was discovered--when Dorismond was 14, he had been arrested on robbery charges, which were dropped---& Giuliani took the unheard-of step of unsealing and publicizing the juvenile record. Giuliani then uttered the racially inflaming 3 words.

Al Sharpton commented, “When Giuliani said ‘He’s no choirboy,’ it was almost as if someone had driven a stake through the mother’s heart. A lot of the passion that I bring to fights is caused by being so close to the family. In revealing the sealed documents and distorting them, the mayor really shook the Dorismond family.

On Homeland Security: Ordinary NYers are 9/11 heroes; Giuliani just did his job

Another observer says, “Where Rudy surprised people is not the ‘take charge’ part of it, but the emotional part of it and the way he effectively brought hope to people. Anybody who has watched Rudy at a cop’s funeral knows that he is very emotionally invested in this part of the job-- there is an aspect of him that is very priestlike.

Rev. Al Sharpton says, “I don’t know any mayor that wouldn’t have done the same thing. Look at Mayor Williams, in Washington. He went through two crises and the national media did not make a hero out of him; there was no Time magazine ‘Man of the Year’ for him. I do not criticize what he did, but I don’t think that he did anything anyone else didn’t do. I think the real hero was all the New Yorkers--ordinary people--that came together and did a tremendous job.”