‘The Rejected Stone’ book excerpt: Rev. Al Sharpton on the advice he gave "Diddy" Combs...
"I first met Diddy when he was in his early twenties, and he was under fire for his connection to a basketball game at City College in Harlem where nine people had died in a stampede. He had promoted the celebrity game, which was supposed to feature several rap stars playing ball. They tried to scapegoat Diddy, when it was really the irresponsibility of the college and the police that caused the tragedy. So I got other community activists to join me in standing up for him."
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A book about redemption or revisionist history by the comeback Rev? At the end of the day, rather than redeem himself, he does what equates to photoshopping blemishes from his tarnished history; no surprise there from the Reverend Al Sharpton. On December 28, 1991, 3,000 to 5,000 individuals showed up for a rap stars' basketball game in Harlem. Nine of those individuals never made it home. The capacity of the stadium was about 2,500. Sean "Puffy" "Diddy" Combs and headliner Heavy D had oversold to almost double the gym's capacity.
In the excerpt above, Al blames the Police and the College (Institution), not the crowd of entitled animals that killed nine people at New York City College while robbing their dead bodies like vultures. Latisha does not mention the police or school officials in this quote:
"Latisha Johnson tried to revive an unconscious woman, but the stranger's pulse faded away. Finally Johnson went to tell the master of ceremonies the woman was dead. When she returned to the body, the woman's shoulder bag and leather coat were gone."(link below)
Looking back, I found a contradiction to the words in his book about this horrific tragedy - in fact, he made the animals accountable and chastised them for their actions:
Culprit in Fatal City College Stampede was the Crowd Itself' "Everyone acts as if it was a cattle stampede, that these people were nothing more than objects to be managed,'' complained Richard Vigilante, editor of The City Journal, a public affairs periodical. ''You hardly ever hear leaders in New York asking people to behave better, as if it would be quaint to do so.''
One prominent exception was the Rev. Al Sharpton, an activist not known for criticizing fellow blacks. He walked up the steps of City Hall and said:
''We are ashamed of those young people (who) conducted themselves in a way that hurt innocent young people.''He accused ''the unsavory characters within our own community'' of ''a grievous and shameful act.''
At a funeral two days later, he spoke wistfully of ''a time when we had to come in not through one door, but in the back door. But we didn't stampede each other.''
Sharpton found an echo at the scene of the crime, where a poem was taped on the dirty glass of the big lobby window.
Alas, that was twenty years ago, no one will remember his break from reality. Sharpton quickly figured out how to create a profitable race-hoax - cry rape and/or racism (neither of which a 'decent' person will take issue with), sue the cops and/or the Institution. Making your people accountable will put you in the poor house, not the White House.The signer, Kerome, mourned the loss of ''young, strong, powerful, precious African lives...''Lives taken - not by enemies''Not by flawed security''But by us who didn't look out for each other''By us who didn't think about the African lives at the bottom of the stairs.''
Also from above article:
At least 100 police and security personal <sic> were on hand, but a rap security expert said there should have been a guard for every 30 spectators - a more rigorous ratio than that for guards and inmates in most units of the city jail.
Nine civil suits were brought in the disaster, including one wrongful death and eight personal injury cases. Sean Combs paid monetarily - all were settled for undisclosed amounts.
In her book, Sean Combs, Susan Traugh, pg 24-25, devotes two paragraphs to the tragedy, an embellished account that makes him look charitable and forever unaccountable:
In 1991, Combs promoted an AIDS fundraiser with Heavy D held at the City College of New York (CCNY) gymnasium, following a charity basketball game. The event was oversold, and a stampede occurred in which nine people died.
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| Sean "Puffy" Combs pays tribute (and $$) to NYCC |
Nicole Levy was one of the hundreds trapped in the City College gym's stairwell on December 28, 1991, standing helplessly as her friend Sonya Williams was trampled to death in the panic. Nine people died and 29 were injured at the benefit basketball game and concert, which promoter Puffy and headliner Heavy D had oversold to almost double the gym's capacity. Now Levy claims the trauma triggered her own Graves' disease, a thyroid condition often brought on by stressful events. Radioactive-iodine treatments have failed to cure her, she says; her complaint lists blurred vision, fatigue, hair loss, and heart palpitations.Also read: No More Crackas for you Mr. Sharpton
