Tag: race

Oprah, Emmett, and Trayvon: The Rich, The Innocent, and The Lost

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

tillmartin

The other day, during a television interview, Talk Show Queen and Obama sycophant Oprah Winfrey made the following statement…

It’s so easy during this time, Trayvon Martin, Trayvon Martin parallel to Emmett Till, let me just tell you. In my mind, same thing. But you can get stuck in that and not allow yourself to move forward and to see how far we’ve come.

Let’s examine both stories, shall we?

Emmett Till grew up in a working-class neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. Even though he had attended a segregated elementary school, he was unprepared for the level of segregation he encountered in Mississippi. His mother warned him that race relations were different where his cousins lived, but Emmett enjoyed pulling pranks. On August 24, while standing with his cousins and some friends outside a country store in Money, Mississippi, Emmett bragged to his buddies that his girlfriend back home was white. Emmett’s friends did not believe him, and dared Emmett to go ask the white woman sitting behind the store counter for a date.

Emmett went in, bought some candy, and on the way out was heard saying, “Bye, baby” to the woman. There were no witnesses in the store, but Carolyn Bryant, the woman behind the counter, claimed that he grabbed her, made lewd advances, and then wolf-whistled at her as he nonchalantly left the store.

The woman’s husband, Roy Bryant, the owner of the store, returned from a business trip a few days later and found out how Emmett had spoken to his wife. Insanely mad, he and his brother-in-law J.W. Milam, went to the home of Till’s great-uncle, Mose Wright, in the early morning hours of August 28, 1955. The pair demanded to see the boy. Despite his uncle’s pleas to leave him alone, they forced Emmett into their car. After driving around in the Memphis night, and perhaps beating Till in a toolhouse behind Milam’s residence, they drove him down to the Tallahatchie River.

14-year-old Emmett Till, an African American from Chicago, was brutally murdered that fateful morning. During the assault, the two men made Emmett carry a 75-pound cotton-gin fan to the bank of the Tallahatchie River and ordered him to take off his clothes. They then beat him nearly to death, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head, and threw his body, tied to the cotton-gin fan with barbed wire, into the river.

HIs body was recovered three days later,  but was so disfigured that Mose Wright could only identify it by an initialed ring. Authorities wanted to bury the body quickly, but Till’s mother, Mamie Bradley, requested it be sent back to Chicago. After seeing the mutilated remains, she decided to have an open-casket funeral so that all the world could see what racist murderers had done to her only son. Jet, an African American weekly magazine, published a photo of Emmett’s corpse, and soon the mainstream media picked up on the story.

In the case of Trayvon Martin, it was the “victim” who was the attacker.

With a single punch, 17-year-old High School Football Player Trayvon Martin decked Neighborhood Watch Volunteer, George Zimmerman. Then, Trayvon climbed on top of George Zimmerman and slammed his head into the sidewalk, over and over again, while Zimmerman pleaded for him to get off of him.

Zimmerman had turned around and was walking back to his SUV when Trayvon approached him from behind, the two exchanged words and then Trayvon punched him in the nose, sending him to the ground, and began beating him.

Zimmerman said he was on his way to the grocery store when he spotted Trayvon walking through his gated community.

Trayvon was visiting his father’s fiancée, who lived there. He had been suspended from school in Miami after being found with an empty marijuana baggie. Miami schools have a zero-tolerance policy for drug possession.

When Zimmerman first spotted Trayvon, he called police and reported a suspicious person, describing Trayvon as black, acting strangely and perhaps on drugs.

Zimmerman got out of his SUV to follow Trayvon on foot. When a dispatch employee asked Zimmerman if he was following the 17-year-old, Zimmerman said yes. The dispatcher told Zimmerman he did not need to do that.

Zimmerman told the dispatcher that he lost sight of Trayvon and was walking back to his SUV when Trayvon approached him from the left rear, and they exchanged words.

Trayvon asked Zimmerman if he had a problem. Zimmerman said no and reached for his cell phone. Trayvon then said, “Well, you do now” and punched Zimmerman in the nose.

Trayvon started slamming Zimmerman’s head into the sidewalk, while hitting him with Martial-Arts Style blows.

After Trayvon refused to stop, Zimmerman  shot Trayvon once in the chest.

When police arrived less than two minutes later, Zimmerman was bleeding from the nose, had a swollen lip and had bloody lacerations to the back of his head.

Paramedics gave him first aid but he said he did not need to go to the hospital. He got medical care the next day.

And, we all know what happened after that. Trayvon became a cause celebre…a focal point by which American’s Race Baiters, including the President of the United States, could grab the spotlight and, somehow, try to become relevant again.

These Race Baiters, supported by our own Federal Government, pushed for a charge of murder against Zimmerman, even though all the evidence pointed overwhelmingly to self-defense. They didn’t want justice. They wanted a lynching.

And, they almost had one. The judge assigned to the case was a lifelong Liberal and Obama Supporter. If the evidence had not been so overwhelmingly in Zimmerman’s favor, he would have been buried under the jail.

The Liberal Media had him convicted before the trial even started. Beginning with NBC’s editing of an audio tape of the attack, to make it seem as if Zimmerman was guilty.

The president even became personally involved in this local matter, proclaiming that if he had a son, he would look like Trayvon.

At least he resembled him with the “chooming” part….I don’t know if the president likes “Purple Drank” or not.

And now, Oprah, desperate to create buzz for her new movie, “The Butler”, comes out with the most ignorant comparison I have seen in a long while.

Emmett Till was an innocent young boy.

Trayvon Martin was a dope-smoking, Purple Drank-drinking, vulgarity-spewing (as the Daily Caller proved, by publishing his tweets), 17-year-old High School Football playing, Gangsta Wannabe.

Hardly someone to hold up as a role model, except if you want an entire generation to be stuck in the same dead-end, hopeless, government-dependent existence that Trayvon was headed toward, when his young life ended.

The stories of Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin did have two things in common, though: they ended much too soon and, they both ended because of ignorance and hatred.

Emmett’s life ended because of the ignorance and hatred of others.

Trayvon’s ended because of his own.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Shelby County School Consolidation: A Lesson in Liberal Overestimation

On By kingsjesterIn Politics5 Comments

children41313I was entering the tenth grade in 1973, when forced busing began in the city of Memphis, TN. To say that it was a time of great upheaval would be an understatement.

In my Middle Class neighborhood, in my typical Memphis City School, our administration tried to make accommodations for the new students. They decided that there would be two Sophomore Commissioners on the Student Council, a White one and a Black one. I was elected as the White Commissioner, and the last I heard of the fellow who became the Black Commissioner, he was a Doctor at Johns Hopkins.

And now, 40 years later, students in the Former Shelby County School System, are beginning to enter their own “Brave New World.”.

You see, a couple of years ago, the then overwhelmingly majority-Black Memphis City School System was swirling down the ol’ porcelain receptacle at an alarming rate. Decades of poor management and fiscal irresponsibility had taken a fatal toll. The City School Board was besieged by parents and city leaders alike, wanting them to actually do their jobs, and turn the struggling school system around. Of course, neither they, nor the school system’s overpaid administration had a clue as to how to actually be fiscally responsible leaders.

So, one of the mountebanks on the school board had an idea: Surrender the System’s Charter to the state, thereby dissolving the System, and forcing a merger with the fiscally sound, White-majority Shelby County School System.

In fact, in the “interest of fairness”, they held a referendum to allow the citizens to vote on whether to merge the school systems or not. The motion overwhelmingly passed.

Of course, the fact that they only allowed Memphis residents, and not the entire county to vote on the measure, probably had something to do with the outcome, don’t ya think?

An Interim School Board was formed, whose make-up just happens to have more representatives from the city system on it than the county’s. (Yeah. I was shocked, too. …Not.)

Then a discussion was started as to which School Superintendent to keep, the City’s or the County’s.

They “compromised” and gave both of them the boot.

But, not so fast. Again, “in the interest of fairness”, an attorney for the City Schools was made the new Superintendent. (Are you catching on, yet?)

Sounds like things were going just as the City School Board’s Professional Politicians planned, huh?

Well, in every life a little rain must fall. The Tennessee State Legislature ruled that the municipalities in the county could form their own separate school systems, if their citizens voted for it.

They did. (Dateline: July 16, 2013)

Voters in six Memphis suburbs decided Tuesday [July  to start public school districts in the municipalities where they live.

Residents of Arlington, Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, Lakeland and Millington overwhelmingly approved separate school systems in the second vote on the issue in less than a year. A federal judge invalidated the first vote.

More than 90 percent of voters in four of the six suburbs voted to approve new school systems, according to the Shelby County Election Commission. Eighty-seven percent of voters in Lakeland and 74 percent in Millington voted “yes.”

The suburbs want to avoid the massive merger between the struggling Memphis City Schools system and the more successful Shelby County Schools system. Suburban leaders and many parents fear that education quality and academic achievement will suffer if they join the huge merged system — known as the Unified School District — and they want control of their own school systems.

The merger, which has created a school system of 150,000 students, is to begin operating when classes start in August. Experts say the merger represents one of the largest school consolidations in decades.

But the makeup of that system could only last a year — the six new suburban systems could start operating in 2014.

Critics say the suburban separation will hamper the massive consolidation efforts, which have included intense budget battles and layoffs of hundreds of teachers and office employees. Some board members in the unified district worry about losing quality teachers and administrators to the new districts. They also stand to lose valuable tax dollars to the breakaway systems.

But the six suburbs have been galvanized in their efforts, spending hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars in a campaign that has included community meetings, public rallies and a bitter legal fight in federal court. All six municipalities already have voted to raise taxes to pay for schools.

A judge in November ruled that the earlier suburban schools vote in August 2012 violated the Tennessee constitution because it dealt with only one county. Lawmakers in Nashville wrote and passed a new law that applied statewide and allowed Tuesday’s vote.

You know , I saw yesterday where Nancy Pelosi and her Liberal brethren want to have a “National Conversation on Race”, in the wake of George Zimmerman being found not guilty of murder, in the case of Trayvon Martin.

This would not be a conversation, it would be a lecture, given by a bunch of didactic, pompous Liberals, who believe that they are smarter than average Americans.

Just like the Memphis City School Board thought that they were being smart by completely destroying what was once an award-winning school system, instead of taking responsibility for their own actions, or lack thereof.

Do you see the parallel, boys and girls?

Liberals overestimate their own intelligence…and nothing good ever comes from it.

Until He Comes,

KJ

President Victimhood

On By kingsjesterIn Uncategorized5 Comments

obamahoodiePast Presidents of the United States have all had a famous quotation that survived their time in office. For instance, Teddy Roosevelt said,

Speak Softly and carry a big stick.

John F. Kennedy said,

Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can so for your country.

And, the greatest president of my lifetime, Ronald Wilson Reagan, who gave us a bunch of great quotations, once quipped,

There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.

Our current president, Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) gave a quote, during an unexpected appearance at the Daily White House Press Briefing yesterday, that will live on beyond his time in office, too.

Unfortunately.

Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.

Quite revealing, huh?

Is the president saying that he was a 17 year old thug, who was suspended multiple times from high school for suspected burglary, carrying a burglary tool around in his backpack, and chooming?

Well, one out of three, anyway…

However, considering he was raised in Hawaii, by his rich white grandparents, and attended a very prestigious private school, I do believe that he is prevaricating…again.

But, wait, boys and girls, there’s more. As they say in Redneck Fairy tales, instead of “Once Upon a Time”,…Y’all Ain’t gonna believe this sh…err…ummm…Mess. (Caught myself.)

There are very few African American men in this country who haven’t had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me. There are very few African American men who haven’t had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me — at least before I was a senator. There are very few African Americans who haven’t had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off. That happens often.

And I don’t want to exaggerate this, but those sets of experiences inform how the African American community interprets what happened one night in Florida. And it’s inescapable for people to bring those experiences to bear. The African American community is also knowledgeable that there is a history of racial disparities in the application of our criminal laws — everything from the death penalty to enforcement of our drug laws. And that ends up having an impact in terms of how people interpret the case.

Now, this isn’t to say that the African American community is naïve about the fact that African American young men are disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system; that they’re disproportionately both victims and perpetrators of violence.  It’s not to make excuses for that fact — although black folks do interpret the reasons for that in a historical context. They understand that some of the violence that takes place in poor black neighborhoods around the country is born out of a very violent past in this country, and that the poverty and dysfunction that we see in those communities can be traced to a very difficult history.

And so the fact that sometimes that’s unacknowledged adds to the frustration. And the fact that a lot of African American boys are painted with a broad brush and the excuse is given, well, there are these statistics out there that show that African American boys are more violent — using that as an excuse to then see sons treated differently causes pain.

I think the African American community is also not naïve in understanding that, statistically, somebody like Trayvon Martin was statistically more likely to be shot by a peer than he was by somebody else. So folks understand the challenges that exist for African American boys. But they get frustrated, I think, if they feel that there’s no context for it and that context is being denied. And that all contributes I think to a sense that if a white male teen was involved in the same kind of scenario, that, from top to bottom, both the outcome and the aftermath might have been different.

Once again, Obama made it all about himself. (As long as he has himself, he’ll never be alone.) However, he went even further than that.

A sitting President of these United States actually promoted Black Victimhood and Racial Division.

Just in time for his fellow traveler Reverend Al Sharpton’s planned “Demonstrations for Trayvon” in one hundred American cities today. Obama basically gave implied consent for the continued racial strife being stirred up by the Professional Race Baiters.

As I’ve mentioned before, I live right outside of Memphis, TN, in NW Mississippi. I have seen racial strife. In fact, as I recently wrote, I was 9 years old when Dr. King was killed. Additionally, I was in ninth grade when forced busing started. A lot of my friends left our middle class public school for the private schools, which quickly sprang up.

Memphis, while it is valiantly hanging on, has areas within it, that resemble the bankrupt city of Detroit. The same thing happened to my hometown as happened up there: all the taxpayers left town.

But, I digress…

Remember the earlier quote from President Reagan?

There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.

Compare it to these words:

It’s not to make excuses for that fact — although black folks do interpret the reasons for that in a historical context. They understand that some of the violence that takes place in poor black neighborhoods around the country is born out of a very violent past in this country, and that the poverty and dysfunction that we see in those communities can be traced to a very difficult history.

Evidently, President Obama believes that the Black Community is still shackled and limited in their freedom.

Which is an ironic statement, considering, as a Black man, that he hold the position of president of the most powerful country on the face of the Earth.

Back in High School, I was a Sophomore Commissioner on the Student Council with a fellow named James. James was one of those students who were bused to our school. He went on to play football and run track. More importantly, James went on to have a 4.0 GPA,  make a 32 on his ACT, and receive a full scholarship from Harvard, and later, Johns Hopkins Medical School. James worked hard and he achieved.

Millions of other Black Americans have, as well.

Yesterday’s speech by the president dishonored those who have achieved and constrained those who might achieve.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Trayvon Martin Trial: Does Character Matter?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

trayvonThe trial of George Zimmerman begins today.

Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in 17-year-old Trayvon Martin’s killing and has pleaded not guilty, saying he acted in self-defense. Circuit Judge Debra Nelson has previously denied a defense motion to delay the trial.

What actually happened that fateful night?  Orlandosentinel.com reported at the time, that

With a single punch, Trayvon Martin decked the Neighborhood Watch volunteer who eventually shot and killed the unarmed 17-year-old, then Trayvon climbed on top of George Zimmerman and slammed his head into the sidewalk, leaving him bloody and battered, law-enforcement authorities told the Orlando Sentinel.

That is the account Zimmerman gave police, and much of it has been corroborated by witnesses, authorities say. There have been no reports that a witness saw the initial punch Zimmerman told police about.

Zimmerman has not spoken publicly about what happened Feb. 26. But that night, and in later meetings, he described and re-enacted for police what he says took place.

In his version of events, Zimmerman had turned around and was walking back to his SUV when Trayvon approached him from behind, the two exchanged words and then Trayvon punched him in the nose, sending him to the ground, and began beating him. Zimmerman told police he shot the teenager in self-defense.

…This is what the Sentinel has learned about Zimmerman’s account to investigators:

He said he was on his way to the grocery store when he spotted Trayvon walking through his gated community.

Trayvon was visiting his father’s fiancée, who lived there. He had been suspended from school in Miami after being found with an empty marijuana baggie. Miami schools have a zero-tolerance policy for drug possession.

Police have been reluctant to provide details about their evidence.

…On Feb. 26, when Zimmerman first spotted Trayvon, he called police and reported a suspicious person, describing Trayvon as black, acting strangely and perhaps on drugs.

Zimmerman got out of his SUV to follow Trayvon on foot. When a dispatch employee asked Zimmerman if he was following the 17-year-old, Zimmerman said yes. The dispatcher told Zimmerman he did not need to do that.

There is about a one-minute gap during which police say they’re not sure what happened.

Zimmerman told them he lost sight of Trayvon and was walking back to his SUV when Trayvon approached him from the left rear, and they exchanged words.

Trayvon asked Zimmerman if he had a problem. Zimmerman said no and reached for his cell phone, he told police. Trayvon then said, “Well, you do now” or something similar and punched Zimmerman in the nose, according to the account he gave police.

Zimmerman fell to the ground and Trayvon got on top of him and began slamming his head into the sidewalk, he told police.

Zimmerman began yelling for help.

Several witnesses heard those cries, and there has been a dispute about whether they came from Zimmerman or Trayvon.

Lawyers for Trayvon’s family say it was Trayvon, but police say their evidence indicates it was Zimmerman.

One witness, who has since talked to local television news reporters, told police he saw Zimmerman on the ground with Trayvon on top, pounding him — and was unequivocal that it was Zimmerman who was crying for help.

Zimmerman then shot Trayvon once in the chest at very close range, according to authorities.

When police arrived less than two minutes later, Zimmerman was bleeding from the nose, had a swollen lip and had bloody lacerations to the back of his head.

Paramedics gave him first aid but he said he did not need to go to the hospital. He got medical care the next day.

The Daily Caller got access to the “Tweets”  of Trayvon.  They reveal a young man who was playing “Gangsta”, spewing vulgarities and talking tough.

Even though all the evidence seems to reveal that the young man was not as pure as the driven snow, it is still unfortunate that his young life ended that night.

Have those character flaws led to a re-writing of Trayvon’s life-story in an attempt to appease activists and convict George Zimmerman?

Just recently, a A court employee was placed on administrative leave for not turning text messages and photos from Tryvon’s phone, over to the defense. Former Prosecutor Wesley White said,

I was saddened by it, but I’m not surprised.

White had first learned about the evidence through the employee more than a month ago.

White led the Nassau County state attorney’s office before resigning in December, due to differences of opinion with the current prosecutor. He is now in private practice.

According to White, the photos Kruidbos got off the phone, were of a hand holding a gun and one depicted drugs. The content of the text messages wasn’t told to him.

I’m an officer of the court and I’m obliged to inform the court of any misconduct or any potential misconduct coming before the court. Whether it’s by the defense or prosecution.

This revelation led the Defense to release photos of a gun, marijuana plant and Martin’s text messages to the public. They announced that if prosecutors were going to label Zimmerman as the aggressor and Martin as the innocent bystander, they wanted the information to defend him.

However, the judge in the case, Judge Nelson,  has ruled that Defense Attorneys won’t be able to mention the teen’s drug use, suspension from school and past fighting during opening statements at the trial.

The thing is, since there were no eye witnesses as to what happened that night, shouldn’t Trayvon’s past behavior be taken into account?

The Miami Herald published the following on March 26th:

The Miami Gardens teen who has become a national symbol of racial injustice was suspended three times, and had a spotty school record that his family’s attorneys say is irrelevant to the facts that led up to his being gunned down on Feb. 26.

In October, a school police investigator said he saw Trayvon on the school surveillance camera in an unauthorized area “hiding and being suspicious.” Then he said he saw Trayvon mark up a door with “W.T.F” — an acronym for “what the f—.” The officer said he found Trayvon the next day and went through his book bag in search of the graffiti marker.

Instead the officer reported he found women’s jewelry and a screwdriver that he described as a “burglary tool,” according to a Miami-Dade Schools Police report obtained by The Miami Herald. Word of the incident came as the family’s lawyer acknowledged that the boy was suspended in February for getting caught with an empty bag with traces of marijuana, which he called “irrelevant” and an attempt to demonize a victim.

Trayvon’s backpack contained 12 pieces of jewelry, in addition to a watch and a large flathead screwdriver, according to the report, which described silver wedding bands and earrings with diamonds.

Trayvon was asked if the jewelry belonged to his family or a girlfriend.

“Martin replied it’s not mine. A friend gave it to me,” he responded, according to the report. Trayvon declined to name the friend.

Trayvon was not disciplined because of the discovery, but was instead suspended for graffiti, according to the report. School police impounded the jewelry and sent photos of the items to detectives at Miami-Dade Police for further investigation.

A lawyer for the dead teen’s family acknowledged Trayvon had been suspended for graffiti, but said the family knew nothing about the jewelry and the screwdriver.

I’ll bet they didn’t.

CiteHR.com, in a article titled “Why Does Character Matter?” states that

Character can be defined in a variety of ways. Mental images abound as to the true definition but perhaps they can be summed up as, the motivation to do what is right; or who you are when no one is watching. To be a person of character, one must posses certain character traits like patience, love, perseverance, self-control, humility, diligence, and so on.

…Personal character clarifies one’s value system and defines behavior in a most explicit manner. As we observe culture and human behavior, we can almost always trace backwards from behavior to find the meaning, values, and beliefs rooted in a person’s worldview that subsequently influences behavior. In other words, our behavior is often consistent with our values; the way we act has meaning based on what we believe about ourselves, other people, the world, and for many a higher power.

Potential evidence as to Zimmerman’s character comes from an attempt to meet with Trayvon’s parents, which they refused.  Of course, witnesses have come forth to testify on behalf of George Zimmerman, also.

The only evidence we have of Trayvon’s character are his spotty school record, and the bloody gashes on the back of Zimmerman’s head, where Trayvon repeatedly slammed it into the sidewalk.

Did Trayvon, as a witness has related he said to Zimmerman, lay an a@@ whuppin’ on Zimmerman or did the 6’1″ teenager slam Zimmerman’s head into the sidewalk because he was scared of the older, smaller, neighborhood watch volunteer?

An impartial jury will have to decide that….and if “content of character” matters.

Until He Comes, 

KJ

Reverend Al Sharpton: Doing for Trayvon What He Did for Tawana?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

MSNBC Host Al Sharpton has made a living for years out of race-baiting.

Remember Tawana Brawley?

Museumofhoaxes.com tells the story:

On November 28, 1987, a 15-year-old black girl named Tawana Brawley was found lying inside a trash bag outside an apartment building located in Wappingers Falls, New York. She was covered in feces and racial insults had been scrawled on her body. When questioned by police she claimed that a group of white men, including police officers, had raped and beaten her. The black community rallied around her, and a prominent black leader, the Reverend Al Sharpton, appointed himself her spokesman. Support for Brawley reached its peak on June 15, 1988 when her advisers held a meeting at the Bethany Baptist Church in Brooklyn that was broadcast to an audience of ten million viewers.

However, the material evidence did not back up Brawley’s claims. Her body displayed no signs of rape or assault. She was not frostbitten, even though she had supposedly been kept naked in the freezing woods for days. The feces on her body turned out to be from a neighbor’s dog, and even more damningly, a local resident of the apartment community where she was found claimed to have seen her climb into the trashbag alone and lie down of her own accord.

In October 1988 a grand jury issued a report following a seven-month investigation. It concluded that Brawley’s claims were a hoax. Many speculated that Brawley had made up a wild story in order to avoid punishment at the hand of her stepfather for having run away from home for three days. But Brawley herself insisted that she was telling the truth, a stance which she has maintained to this day. More than anything else, the episode and its bitter aftermath displayed the deep racial divisions that still haunted American society.

Now, in 2012, the Reverend Al Sharpton, MSNBC Host, is race-baiting once again.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that

If George Zimmerman is not arrested in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin soon, theRev. Al Sharpton will call for an escalation in peaceful civil disobedience and economic sanctions.

Sharpton would not say the efforts would be taken against the city of Sanford specifically, but he has been critical of the police department’s handling of the case.

The NAACP, who is sponsoring a march in Trayvon’s hometown of Sandford, Florida today, immediately tried to distance itself from Sharpton’s threat. Read this and decide for yourself if this was a “nudge, nudge, wink, wink” moment:

Turner Clayton, the Seminole County chapter president of the NAACP, reacted immediately to Sharpton’s warning, saying, “We hope that the citizens of Sanford will govern themselves accordingly. We are not calling for any sanctions, against any business or anyone else. And, of course, what Rev. Sharpton does, that’s strictly the [National] Action Network. We can’t condone that part of the conversation, if that’s what he said.”

“I don’t think they can confuse that,” Clayton said. “It’s just that they will have to make a judgment as to whether they want to follow the mission of the NAACP or follow what the Rev. Sharpton said.”

Clayton said that the rallies are going to show support from the community and show the special prosecutor that “we are interested in what happened, and we’re not going to stand by and let them do something that the people of Sanford will not accept.”

Saturday’s rally will begin with a march from the Crooms Academy to the Sanford Police Department on 13th Street. The march begins at 11 a.m. and is hosted by the NAACP.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson is expected to attend, along with Sharpton, who is expected to deliver specifics on his warning.

Sanford city workers spent the day discussing security and preparing for the rally, including setting up barricades, signs, cones and a stage.

Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch leader, shot and killed Martin, 17, last month, in a gated community in Sanford. Zimmerman claims the shooting was in self-defense.

Is it a “conflict of interest” for the Reverend Al to be a wild-eyed, race-baiting, camera-hogging activist and a cable news program host for MSNBC?

Evidently not, per comments his boss, Phil Griffin,  made to The Christian Science Monitor (I’m shocked):

Sharpton’s dual role would have been unthinkable on television 20 years ago and still wouldn’t be allowed at many news organizations. While opinionated cable news hosts have become commonplace over the past decade, Sharpton goes beyond talking.

“It certainly represents a change in our traditional view of the boundaries between journalism and activism,” said Kelly McBride, ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank. “Al Sharpton is clearly an activist.”

Sharpton, a Baptist minister, runs the Harlem-based National Action Network, a civil rights organization. He’s been a frequent presence as an advocate in racially-charged cases dating back to Tawana Brawley‘s accusations of an assault that turned out to be a hoax in the late 1980s.

He joined MSNBC’s roster of hosts last summer after extensive discussions about how his activist role would continue while on the air.

MSNBC chief executive Phil Griffin said his chief requirement was that Sharpton discuss his activism with network bosses so they could decide, on a case-by-case basis, how it would affect “Politics Daily,” which begins at 6 p.m. ET.

“We didn’t hire Al to become a neutered kind of news presenter,” Griffin said. “That’s not what we do.”

Griffin, talking before Monday’s show, said he hadn’t seen any conflict with Sharpton’s role on and off the air in the Martin case. He said Sharpton had fulfilled his requirement to honest and upfront about his activities, and credited “Politics Daily” with helping to make it a national story.

And somewhere, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. is sadly shaking his head.