The INDsider -> Mary Tutwiler MON, JAN 18 9:27AM by Mary Tutwiler

Al Sharpton speaks in Houma for MLK celebration

In a flying swing through the nation that brought him to Atlanta on Friday, Chicago on Sunday, and Harlem for his annual Martin Luther King celebration today, the Reverend Al Sharpton made a pass through the bayou community of Houma on Saturday.

Invited by the Terrebonne Parish NAACP, Sharpton arrived Saturday evening at the New Rising Sun Baptist Church to a packed crowd. Invoking King’s mission to create racial equality, Sharpton cautioned that even the election of a black president has not leveled the playing field.

Racism still exists, Sharpton told the audience, citing education and financial status as examples of inequality. “I say we’re in a post-racial conversation,” he told the Houma Courier. “We’re trying to talk as if we’re past race.”

Sharpton cited the example of former Tangipahoa Parish justice of the peace Keith Bardwell’s refusal to marry interracial couples. He also denounced televangelist Pat Robertson, who last week made controversial comments about the earthquake in Haiti. Robertson, on his TV show, said that Haitian slaves, under the leadership of Toussaint L’Ouverture, “swore a pact to the devil” to obtain their freedom from the French colonial government in 1800. Robertson said the Haitians told Satan, “We will serve you,” and that “ever since, they have been cursed.”

French Louisiana welcomed thousands of refugees, both black and white, from the revolution in Haiti, and has maintained strong ties with the Francophone island nation.

Sharpton refuted Robertson’s remarks. “What kind of Christianity judges people in need?” he told The Courier. “To be so mean, insensitive and callous in the name of God needs to be challenged.” Sharpton also addressed Robertson’s remarks in an interview with the New York Daily News on Sunday. “This was a natural disaster. These people did nothing to deserve this. That’s why I can’t get over these right wing pseudo-preachers who criticize the needy instead of helping them. It’s sick and immoral and despicable.”

Sharpton has been raising money for the relief effert in Haiti, and after his MLK celebration in New York today, he will fly to Haiti. “It would be the height of hypocrisy to talk about celebrating Dr. King and not deal with Haiti,” he told The New York Daily News.

Locally, artist Tina Girouard, who lived and worked in Haiti, and who has maintained close ties with Haitian artists, suggests that we make donations to Doctors Without Borders, which has free clinics throughout Haiti.

Articles by this Author:

View all articles by this author

Comments (4)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

...
written by NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN , January 18, 2010 - 06:06 pm

AS LONG AS SHARPTON $ JACKSON ARE ABLE TO POINTOUT THE MOST INFINITESIMAL SIGN/DISPLAY OF RACISM, THEY ARE INSURED A GOVERNMENT SPONSORED FREERIDE FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR FAMILYS. THIS WORLD WOULD DEFINITELY, BE A MUCH LESS-TRAUMATIC, LESS BLOOD-SHEDDING,MORE PROSPEROUS,JOYFUL PLACE WITHOUT RACISM, AND THEN THESE TWO HATE FEEDING, CHARITY CASES WOULD KNOW HOW IT IS TO EARN A DOLLAR INSTEAD OF BEING FREELOADING BUMS AND PAYNG LIP SERVICE FOR THOSE WHO FURNISH THEM THEIR PERKS, ON TOP OF ALL ELSE GIVEN TO THEM......BUT, WATCH AND YOU'LL SEE THEY BARELY SUPPORT THEIR ILL'GOTTEN OFFSPRING, MUCH LESS PART WITH A DOLLAR FROM THEIR PERSONAL CASH-STASH, A LA BILL JEFFERSON $ FLY........

...
written by mike , January 18, 2010 - 06:20 pm

thanks Al thanks for your courage and goodness.

...
written by Plumpy , January 18, 2010 - 07:17 pm

I like to know how much is Al getting for that gig ...

...
written by Tony Wasabi , January 18, 2010 - 07:53 pm

Sharpton or Robertson--they both stink.

You must be logged in to post a comment. Log in using your Facebook account or register if you do not have an account yet.

Most Read

David Calhoun, ‘EB’ Brooks join Lafayette Central Park

David Calhoun and Elizabeth “EB” Brooks are the first two employees of Lafayette Central Park Inc., the nonprofit charged with turning Lafayette Consolidated Government’s 100-acre Johnston Street Horse Farm property into a passive public park. Calhoun was named executive director, and Brooks is director of planning and design.
Remembering Ricky Rees

The veteran police officer remembered by friends for his large and small acts of kindness will be laid to rest Wednesday.
Zachary Barker takes helm of the Opportunity Machine

Zachary Barker continues making waves in Lafayette’s business scene, mostly recently being named director of the Opportunity Machine.
Shakin' at the Shack

There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
Lafayette’s ‘sinking ship’ is cash flow positive

“We’ve crossed that magic threshold,” LUS Director Terry Huval says.

in case you missed it

COOL TOWN 2013

This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A curious compact

A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
Pooyie 2012

It's good, it's bad and it's just plain crazy.
Saving Saturday Night

An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Posthaste vs. HART FORTENBERY

Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.