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Civil rights activist Al Sharpton complained on Tuesday that the Democratic presidential candidates have been less than forceful in speaking out about recent hate crimes and the policies of President Bush's Justice Department. The New York-based reverend was in Washington with Martin Luther King III and other activists to discuss a march next week at the headquarters of the Justice Department, which they contend has taken no serious action to prosecute a spate of recent noose-hanging incidents following the Jena Six case. Sharpton said he was upset those issues weren't discussed last month at a debate among the Democratic candidates....

When OJ went on trial for murder, and the evidence was presented, no reasonable person could believe in his innocence. The contest between society and a killer was rebilled, however, into a contest between white society and a successful black man, and he was acquitted. (He was later convicted civilly, but never paid the money awarded to the Goldmans.) When the Duke students were arrested for rape, the case was presented as rich, white kids taking advantage of a poor black woman, who turned out to be a scoundrel.

Brent Bozell's culture column this week deals with Opie & Anthony's sick XM shock-jock routine about raping Condoleeza Rice (and raping Laura Bush "to death.") You may not be shocked, but Al Sharpton made no attempt to express his outrage at the XM sickos in defense of this black woman, despite how this routine is so much worse than the Don Imus "ho" comment... Rev. Al Sharpton showed up to debate May 15 on the CNN Headline News program "Showbiz Tonight." But he didn't say a single word against Opie and Anthony or one word in defense of Condi Rice....

anti-Semitic riots in Brooklyn's Crown Heights section erupted after 7-year old Gavin Cato, a black child, was accidentally killed by an out-of-control car driven by a Hasidic Jew. Within three hours, a black mob had hunted down and killed an innocent rabbinical student, Yankel Rosenbaum. Sharpton fanned the flames of racial hatred by publicly announcing that it was not merely a car accident that had killed Gavin Cato, but rather "the social accident of apartheid." He organized angry demonstrations and challenged local Jews -- who he derisively called "diamond merchants" -- to "pin their yarmulkes back and come over to...

Said he will go down as greatest civil right leader of the "late 20th century."

HER name is Crystal Gail Man gum. She is the woman who falsely accused three Duke University students of rape. Yesterday, the attorney general of North Carolina came forward and flatly declared the three young men "innocent of these charges." That means their accuser is a liar. Her name is Crystal Gail Mangum. It is the policy of the news media not to publish the names of rape accusers on the grounds that they should not have to fear public shame for coming forward with word of a horrifying personal violation. That is a noble policy. But it needs a...

n condemning radio show host Don Imus’ use of the term “nappy headed hos” to describe African-American basketball players, Al Sharpton said, “What is any possible reason you could feel that this type of statement should be forgiven and overlooked?” Sharpton also said that Imus’ show should be terminated from CBS and MSNBC. These are indeed questions that should be asked about Sharpton himself, and the Al Sharpton Show. Al Sharpton has as much right to talk about racial and ethnic tolerance as former Klan leader David Duke. ...Perhaps someone should take Don Imus to task for what he said,...

If George Allen turned up on Good Morning America to protest an incident of alleged anti-white bigotry, what are the odds the GMA host wouldn't mention Allen's macaca moment? I'd say they'd be a Dylanesqe "Love Minus Zero." But when GMA aired a clip this morning of Al Sharpton expressing his outrage over Don Imus' recent comments about the Rutgers women basketball players, not a discouraging word was heard about Sharpton's history of racially-charged statements and actions that go far beyond the former senator's gaffe. View video hereGMA CO-HOST CHRIS CUOMO: Now leaders in the African-American community are targeting Imus...

NEW YORK - Civil rights activist Al Sharpton said Monday he is seriously considering a run for president. "I don't hear any reason not to," Sharpton, 52, said in an interview during an urban affairs conference sponsored by another civil rights leader, the Rev. Jesse Jackson. "If we're talking about the urban agenda, can you tell me anybody else in the field who's representing that right now?" Sharpton asked. "We clearly have a reason to run, and whether we do it or not we'll see over the next couple of months." Sharpton mounted a long-shot bid for the White House...

DURHAM -- A new batch of prosecution information showed that no rape occurred during a Duke University lacrosse party in March and revealed roughly a dozen conflicting statements by the accuser -- who even once told authorities she was not sexually assaulted -- two defense lawyers contend in court documents filed Monday. Lawyers Kirk Osborn and Ernest Conner, representing indicted rape suspect Reade Seligmann, said they needed to know which of the accuser's stories District Attorney Mike Nifong intended to use "in his attempt to falsely prosecute" their client. Osborn and Conner were responding to 536 pages of documents about...

A second exotic dancer who performed at a March 13 Duke University lacrosse team party where a woman says she was raped and assaulted by three athletes made an obscene gesture at a television camera during court proceedings on Tuesday. When Kim Roberts noticed WRAL's camera in the courtroom, she made the gesture and then stuck out her tongue.

DURHAM, N.C. — A third Duke University lacrosse player indicted for his role in the alleged rape of a 27-year-old exotic dancer said Monday that he is "absolutely innocent" of all charges and that the allegations against him "are lies, fabricated...and they will be proven wrong." David Evans, a 23-year-old senior, said he and his roommates helped police search for evidence after the incident was reported. He also answered questions and gave a statement to police without a lawyer present "because I knew I had done nothing wrong." He also said he...voluntarily turned over DNA samples,...and asked to take a...

<p>Brooklyn's Democratic machine forced juvenile offenders from a charity-run criminal rehab to do grunt work on political campaigns this fall, The Post has learned.</p> <p>The young campaigners, all members of Uth-Turn, a nonprofit intervention group headed by disbarred Tawana Brawley lawyer C. Vernon Mason, worked for candidates during the 2005 primary and general election, court documents reveal.</p>

“I read in the Bible, and it’s also in the Torah, that there was some woman a couple thousand years ago who was faced with a moral challenge — a challenge you and other family members have taken up. Her name was Esther. Somebody warned Esther that ‘You’d better not go and bring your issue to the king.’ But she said people are being killed and people are dying. And they said, ‘Well, Esther, don’t say anything because you’ll suffer greatly.’ But somewhere, Esther said in her soul, ‘If I perish, let me perish. I’m going to see then king.’

CRAWFORD, Texas - The Rev. Al Sharpton joined hundreds of war protesters outside President Bush's ranch for an interfaith service Sunday, saying he felt compelled to meet Cindy Sheehan, the grieving mother who started the rally three weeks earlier. Sheehan had arrived in Bush's hometown on Aug. 6 and refused to leave until she could question the president about the war that has killed more than 1,870 U.S. service members, including her 24-year-old son, Casey. As her vigil drew attention, it also drew crowds, with some people joining her camp, celebrities stopping by to lend her their support, and Bush...

NEW YORK (AP) - Three black men who ventured into a historically white neighborhood early Wednesday to steal a car were chased by a man with a baseball bat, police said. One man was beaten and suffered a fractured skull. The attack happened several hours before dawn in the same section of the borough of Queens as an infamous 1986 beating of three black men whose car had broken down. In Wednesday's attack, Nicholas Minucci, 21, was being charged with first-degree assault as a hate crime, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, police Commissioner Ray Kelly said at a...

<excerpt> The Rev. Al Sharpton Jr., the flamboyant Pentecostal preacher, civil rights activist and recent Democratic presidential candidate, will be in Gainesville Saturday as the featured speaker in a get-out-the-vote program. Sharpton has accepted an invitation to speak during a candidate forum sponsored by the Alachua County Democratic Black Caucus in advance of next week's primary election. The free program will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Martin Luther King Center, 1028 NE Waldo Road. "Al brought the house down at the Democratic (National) Convention and said things we as black people want to hear,"...

It was hardly shocking that Al Sharpton was permitted to speak at the Democratic Convention. But a scandal needn't be a surprise to still be a scandal. What is stunning, however, is how his speech has been received. Already, Business Week has hailed him as "the toast of the Democratic Establishment" and the usual nattering-chattering shows are treating him like an elder statesmen of the party. One would call it a rehabilitation, except for the fact he was never habilitated in the first place. Sharpton's re-creation is all the more miraculous - and disgusting - because it came without an...

Note: this column contain language that may be offensive to some readers. Ever since self-defacing teenager Tawana Brawley smeared feces all over herself, scrawled "KKK" and "nigger" on her skin, climbed into a trash bag, and blamed it on racist cops in New York, America has been victimized by wannabe victims -- warped publicity-seekers so desperate for attention that they'll fake the hate by any means necessary. Brawley (who now calls herself Maryam Muhammad) is all grown up. But her psychologically stunted heirs continue to soak up public sympathy and squander police resources. Recent media attention has focused on...

A travesty took place in Greensboro on Feb. 6, when Sit-In Movement Inc. presented its Alston-Jones International Civil and Human Rights Award to Al Sharpton. It is joke enough that such an award is named for Skip Alston and Earl Jones, but the presentation of a purported “civil and human rights” award to Al Sharpton pushes irony to its limits. While any meaningful contributions to civil and human rights by Al Sharpton are questionable, there is considerable proof that he sought to deprive people of such rights in the Tawana Brawley rape hoax, which attracted national attention in 1987. Brawley,...