I finally made it all the way through the William Bastone Sharpton piece for The Smoking Gun. It was like living the 1980’s over again. I am not quite sure why so much time was devoted to digging up dirt on Al Sharpton, but it at least makes for interesting history.
For those of us who had to suffer through the Tawana Brawley affair in the New York media market, there is no love lost for the 1980’s version of Reverend Sharpton. At the time, he was a thoroughly disreputable individual, as Mr. Bastone documents thoroughly.
I just don’t think very many people care about it anymore. For some, Sharpton can never atone for the Brawley affair. I felt that way myself for about twenty years, but I got over it.
My main reaction to reading the piece is concern that Sharpton’s life might be at risk now that everyone knows he was an FBI informant who helped bring down some La Cosa Nostra figures.
But that Al Sharpton doesn’t exist anymore. He’s matured. When he was coming up, the world he operated in was filled with mafiosi and hustlers. Now his world is filled with corporate executives and high-powered politicians.
The nature of the hustle has changed, and so has the hustler.
