Tawana Brawley


The Tawana Brawley rape case put Al Sharpton on the map.  When revealed to be a hoax, he stayed on the map.  Why?  Had Jim Jones lived through Guyana, would he still be considered a leader by the lost and gullible?  After Sharpton's success I'd have to pass on any wagers.




"We beat this, we will be the biggest niggers in New York." - Al Sharpton on the Tawana Brawley hoax

From People Magazine -
"when Tawana Brawley's story of gang rape and gross defilement by white tormentors surfaced in New York, the case made headlines, became a cause célèbre. Bill Cosby and Essence magazine publisher Edward Lewis posted a $25,000 reward for information on the case. Heavyweight champ Mike Tyson gave Tawana a $30,000 watch and, with boxing promoter Don King, pledged $100,000 for her education. "
With the exception of Don King, all the same players appear in the Trayvon Martin case.   I'm pretty sure Tyson would have followed Jim Jones.
"Tawana became a symbol. She came to represent the notion of unequal justice for the black community,"
As we all know, so has Trayvon Martin.
Rev. Al Sharpton, an admitted FBI informant widely regarded as a confabulating clown; Alton Maddox Jr., a civil-rights attorney whose seething rage often led him to shout first and think afterward, if ever; and C. Vernon Mason, a respected and articulate lawyer who seemed to grow ever more strident and less rational, as though under the thrall of the other two. 
In the Martin case:
Al Sharpton plays himself
Alton Maddox Jr. is played by Ben Crump
Since there are no respected and articulate lawyers in this case, I cannot assign Mason.
Charging that high officials were covering up the crime, the three men counseled Tawana and her family to challenge the legitimacy of New York's "corrupt" justice system by refusing to speak to authorities. 
High officials:  Police Chief Lee (ousted), and Sanford PD
...the trio held seemingly endless press conferences at which they fired off charges so outlandish and reckless they sometimes verged on the hallucinatory: 
The photos of a 13 year old boy and a 7 year old mug shot of a 20 year old man.  The body was in the morgue for three days before parents were notified, Zimmerman took the gun home, Trayvon's body was drug tested on the ground as he lay dead.  Trayvon was an honor student, and aviation student, and loved gospel music.  George was a criminal with a history of violence - 94 calls to 911 in six months. Witnesses paraded on all the news shows calling the SPD liars, when it was they who were lying. On and on it goes, to this day.  No matter how absurd, it is still believed.
Perry McKinnon, an aide close to Sharpton, went public to say that their defense of Tawana had been nothing but "a pack of lies." Then, last week, one Samuel McClease, a self-styled surveillance expert, claimed that Sharpton had hired him last February to bug Mason's home and office. The minister's intent, McClease said, was to gather evidence that might save his own posterior because he "felt the game was over.
But it wasn't over....yet.
McKinnon said that the three Brawley advisers were lying when they claimed to have proof that law officers had raped Tawana. In fact, he said, they had never shown much interest in gathering evidence. McKinnon said he warned Maddox and Sharpton back in January that there were no facts to support the Brawley family's rape story. According to McKinnon, Sharpton privately agreed with him, calling the story "bull——." But, said McKinnon, Maddox insisted: "I don't care 'bout no facts. I'm not going to pursue it legally. I'm going to pursue it politically." 
Sound familiar?  Stand Your Ground. Make no mistake though, Crump WILL pursue this civilly, it's the only reason he is involved.
 When she was found, Brawley was lying in an open plastic garbage bag, with clumps of her hair cut off, and with "KKK" and "nigger" scrawled on her torso. Her story of rape by white men seemed to gain force four days later when a part-time police officer in a neighboring town apparently committed suicide (though a note he reportedly left spoke only of his despondency over his life and career). 
Four days later, the family contacted Sharpton (according to Sharpton), because they were not satisfied with how the police were handling their case.  Keep in mind, and according to those who worked with Sharpton on this hoax, Sharpton is always on the look out for these types of cases.  I'm convinced, but have yet to be able to prove, Sharpton and Crump found the Martin family, they didn't find Sharpton and Crump.
Journalists reported evidence suggesting that she [Tawana] had actually run away from home at the time of the attack, that she had been "partying" in a crack-infested section of nearby Newburgh while she was missing. Had she perhaps invented the abduction story to avoid the wrath of her mother and stepfather, Ralph King, an ex-convict who had served seven years for the killing of his wife? Sources told reporters that Tawana had run away before and that her mother had beaten her when she returned. Neighbors had heard people in an apartment from which the Brawleys had been evicted two weeks earlier. When police taped a telephone call between Tawana and a former boyfriend in jail, she was heard to say, "The only thing the newspapers got right was my name and address." The newspapers had printed her family's version of the story. 
 All the lies told by the family attorney in this case can be found throughout this blog - it would take up too much space to go over them here.  Suffice it to say, the above basically applies.
Acceding to the family advisers' demands, Gov. Mario Cuomo appointed Attorney General Robert Abrams as special prosecutor, removing the investigation from the control of local authorities. 
Due to the demands of Al Sharpton, the Martin family and their attorneys, a special prosecutor was assigned to take over the Trayvon Martin case, removing the investigation from the control of the local authorities.
 As the case unraveled around them, the three activists seemed to grow increasingly desperate. They repeatedly named a state trooper and an assistant district attorney as two of Tawana's attackers, risking a slander suit that the assistant district attorney promises will be forthcoming. These and all their other charges had two things in common: No persuasive evidence was provided to support them and they made headlines. 
Having no evidence is not a deterrent to a race-baiting hustler - as is witnessed in this and other cases Sharpton has been involved in, most recently the Trayvon Martin case.
1988 - (Sharpton) He is currently under investigation for tax evasion, mail fraud and misappropriation of charity funds, perhaps including money donated for the Brawley family. In the midst of the Brawley hoopla, a Newsday exposé disclosed that Sharpton was a longtime FBI informant, providing information on drug dealers and black activists. (He denies the part about black activists.) 

This is about where we stand in the Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman case at this time.  Is what eventually transpired in the Brawley case an arbiter of the future?  I'll put it here and we will see:

Snippets from Wikipedia:  "A grand jury concluded in October 1988 that Brawley had not been the victim of a forcible sexual assault and that she herself may have created the appearance of an attack. The New York prosecutor whom Brawley had accused as one of her alleged assailants successfully sued Brawley and her three advisers,  Al Sharpton and attorneys Alton H. Maddox and C. Vernon Mason  for defamation and won. Defamation suit brought by Pagones.


   The events were alluded to in Spike Lee's 1989 film Do the Right Thing, in which a scene showed a brick wall bearing the graffiti message "Tawana told the truth".


   There was evidence that Brawley's mother and father participated knowingly in the hoax. Neighbors told the grand jury that in February they overheard Glenda Brawley saying to Mr. King, "You shouldn't have took the money because after it all comes out, they're going to find out the truth." Another neighbor heard Mrs. Brawley say, "They know we're lying and they're going to find out and come and get us."


   On May 21, 1990, Alton H. Maddox, Jr. was indefinitely suspended by the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn after failing to appear before a disciplinary hearing to answer allegations regarding his conduct in the Brawley case.

   Pagones had also sued Brawley. She defaulted by not appearing at the trial, and the judge ordered her to pay him damages of $185,000. As of 2003, none of the award had been paid.[29] The $65,000 judgment levied against Al Sharpton was paid for him in 2001 by supporters, including renowned attorney Johnnie Cochran plus former businessman Earl G. Graves, Jr."