Economist and Brown University professor Glenn Loury, fed-up with what he called the “very high-level shtick” of Al Sharpton, tweeted out a clip of himself ripping Sharpton while accusing the Democratic Party of “creating the careers of people like Al Sharpton, who broker the race card.”
Loury stated, “I think the politics of the Democratic Party is perfect for creating the careers of people like Al Sharpton, who broker the race card and the votes of black Democrats for the access that they can get and who played a certain kind of functional role in something that I think really poorly represents the interest of African-Americans rightly understood.”
Loury continued by listing actions Sharpton could take but hasn’t that would engender respect for him in Loury’s perspective:
If Al Sharpton were running around talking about charter schools; if he were running around urging African-Americans to adopt kids who don’t have any parents; if he were insisting that it’s possible for black kids compete effectively if they get the kind of instruction and support that they need to acquire the intellectual skills that allow them to compete in an exam school situation or anything like that; if he was going to find ex-offenders who were prepared to reject the gang life and affirm decent ways of living and foster relationships of guidance with young men who were not yet on the right path and so forth and so on; if he was working with the cops and not against the cops to try to keep the peace in some of these neighborhoods, I’d have more respect for him.
He continued, “But it’s a very high-level shtick. He’s refined it to perfection, and he’s out Jesse Jacksoning Jesse Jackson in the twenty-first century while the clock keeps ticking on poor black people, and the demagoguery that spews out of him is almost completely unrelated to the actual material needs of this population.”
He turned to Sharpton’s buddy, President Joe Biden: “Joe Biden is going to rescue inner-city Baltimore? Really? At the brokerage of Al Sharpton Joe Biden is going to save education for poor black people? Joe Biden is going to make it safe to walk on the South Side of Chicago after midnight because Al Sharpton is in the Oval Office?”
Here I am, explaining to @JohnHMcWhorter exactly what's wrong with Al Sharpton (time was limited, so I had to keep it short!) See more at my new channel, https://t.co/kM0UhXwAz4 and support this work at https://t.co/ZICguBef8A pic.twitter.com/atyygE3pdU
— Glenn Loury (@GlennLoury) September 30, 2021
In July, speaking at the National Constitution Center, Biden stated Sharpton was his “pal,” saying, “I see an awful lot of good friends out there. Please have a seat if you have one. I — let me begin by saying I used to be important. I used to be the chairman of the board of this place. And Jeffrey Rosen allowed me to do that for a while. But thank you all for being here. I truly appreciate it. Governor, it’s above and beyond the call. Mr. Mayor, I’d compli- — I thought you were a great mayor — still think you are — but your judgment in fiancées is even stronger. And — but — but all of you. And a good friend, Bobby Brady. I see so many friends out. Al Sharpton — Al, how are you, pal? It’s great to see you.”
The New York Times reported in April 2020 that Sharpton “speaks to Mr. Biden regularly.” Dan McLaughlin wrote in National Review at the time:
Sharpton is as toxic a figure as exists in American public life. Space does not permit here a full summary of Sharpton’s sins, which include inciting murder, riot, and arson, leading a hoax rape accusation against innocent men, anti-Semitism, and tax evasion … There are plenty of terrible people in American politics, but Sharpton has a body count to go with an unusually broad range of misconduct.