'When You Are Black, You Are Subjected To a Different Reality, and We Are Not Going To Be Quiet'

So said noted racial healer Al Sharpton, way back in February 2008. Indeed, Sharpton very much is subjected to a different reality. In fact just Saturday he drew a few thousand people to see him whine about Glenn Beck's massive rally and he was accorded preferential treatment by the Washington Post. But we're used to seeing an alternate reality when it comes to Sharpton. Over two decades after pushing the Tawana Brawley hoax, inciting riots in Brooklyn and the Freddie's massacre in Harlem, Sharpton is greeted by the media as a political kingmaker. In fact, he's been reinvented, according to one rapidly fading weekly.

So it's interesting today to revisit his comments from 2008.

The Rev. Al Sharpton says federal investigators probing Roger Clemens' alleged steroid use must hold the hurler to the same standards applied to slugger Barry Bonds.

"When I see a contrast between how you treat a Clemens and how you treat a Bonds, that is a civil rights issue," Sharpton said Saturday on his weekly radio show.

Sharpton - who seemed to downplay the harsh questioning of Clemens by several members of Congress - assailed those who "treated Roger Clemens like they were at a fan club meeting."

Clemens, in his appearance before a House committee last Wednesday, repeatedly denied using performance-enhancing drugs - echoing the claims of Bonds, baseball's all-time home run leader.
...
But Sharpton said Clemens' celebrity, his sterling statistics and his off-field endeavors shouldn't affect the decision to prosecute him.

"You have prosecuted Barry Bonds, and you did not say, 'Don't prosecute Bonds because he made the sport a lot of money,'" Sharpton said.

"You did not say, 'Don't prosecute Bonds because he gives a lot to charity,' which he does.

"When you are black, you are subjected to a different reality, and we are not going to be quiet."

Thanks to Phil Mushnick for noticing the media's amnesia when it comes to this.

Last week, after Clemens was indicted by the federal government for perjury, Sharpton appeared on MSNBC. But his irresponsible, inflammatory allegations about Bonds and Clemens were never even mentioned. Sharpton was brought on to shout "racism!" at something else.

Sharpton never has been held accountable for his wishful-thinking claims about sports, but those claims sure make big news when he first makes them. That's what happens when the news media can't distinguish -- or chooses not to distinguish -- an activist from an arsonist.

Clemens is being arraigned today. Al Sharpton is unavailable for comment.

Update: Check out all the hate on display at the Sharpton rally. Funny how the media's ignoring this.