From The New York Daily News
WASHINGTON – Calling out black leadership groups, the NBA, and even White House security, the Rev. Al Sharpton jumped into the Gilbert Arenas circus Monday, injecting the topic of race into the conversation on the same day the Wizards guard spoke with federal prosecutors.
The civil rights activist urged NBA commissioner David Stern to come down hard on Arenas, who admitted to stockpiling unloaded weapons in his locker last month. Arenas said Monday that removing the weapons from his locker was a “misguided effort to play a joke on a teammate.” Sharpton, who spoke with Stern by phone Monday and hopes to meet with him later this week, was not in a laughing mood.
“The NBA needs to stand up and send a strong message by dealing with this situation,” Sharpton told the Daily News. He also chided black leadership groups for not speaking out about the “culture of violence being perpetuated in professional sports.” Sharpton cited former Giant Plaxico Burress as an example of professional athletes run amok.
“This all happened in the Verizon Center?” Sharpton said. “This is the same place where the Obamas watched a Wizards game (on Feb. 27, 2009). You telling me that he had guns in the locker room when Obama went to the game?”
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at 5:44 pm
I dont know the full truth of the matter and neither does Mr. Sharpton, so why does he feel the need to add his two unwanted cents to the situation. If any portion of the truth is being told by the media this man has lost his job for nothing. How many times have we played jokes on friends or family, maybe not with using a hand gun but some have gone a little overboard.
This country cracks me up with it twisted views on gun laws,once a black man gets a gun in his hands he is dangerous. D@MN Dick Cheney shot a man for christ sake.
at 4:30 am
I am more concerned with Lavena Johnson’s case than Al Sharpton getting paid to be an opportunist for massa Stern.
@dachosenone4life
Thank you for shedding some light on real news.
at 11:27 am
wow i am shocked that sharton would want the NBA to come down hard on this guy! you mean to tell me the reverend wants accountability from young black to follows society’s rules? i am shocked! sounds AL is turning white!
at 10:03 am
f**k gAl sharpton…his old ass need to sit down somewhere…he just dick ridin krackaz so that he kan get him a good name when he gets old and try to have a holiday after him…f**k dat nigga…athletes need to stay loaded kause they are always gettin jacked…so for Gilbert to pull a gun out on his teammate is wrong but if it wasnt loaded then he shouldnt be pusnished
at 12:02 pm
Disappointment doesn’t even begin to express my feelings toward Al’s latest ti raid what a B***H ASS UNCLE TOM. For years I have respected this man for standing up for the cause of African Americans. Now he is calling on an openly Racist Commissioner to punish Arenas. This is the price of fame and acceptance by these Devils.
at 4:13 am
DACHOSENONE4LIFE
I firmly remeber that incident and it quikly died down in the media
I appreciate you sheddin some more light on it because I wanted to kno if the family would be seekin 2 file a suit against the Army
I will be looking forward 2 this
at 3:01 am
AL SHARPTON IF YOU WANT TO SPEAK ON A TOPIC HE`S ONE FOR YOU.
The Silent Truth – The Doc**entary Coming 2010
Midtown Films is currently producing The Silent Truth, a doc**entary which tells the story of nineteen year-old U.S. Army Private LaVena Johnson, who was found dead on the military base in Balad, Iraq in July, 2005. The United States Army ruled her death as a suicide resulting from a self-inflicted M-16 rifle shot wound.
Is there an army cover up of the rape and murder of women soldiers?
Ninety-four United States military women have died in Iraq or during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Of these deaths some twenty occurred under extremely suspicious circ**stances; defined by the Army and the Department of Defense as ‘non-combat related injuries,’ with the additional characterization of ‘suicide’.
‘The Silent Truth’, tells the story of nineteen year-old U. S. Army Private LaVena Johnson, who was found dead on the military base in Balad, Iraq in July, 2005, her death determined by the US Army to be suicide by a self-inflicted M-16 gun shot. Through interviews with Ms. Johnson’s parents, Dr. John and Linda Johnson, this doc**entary tells the story of the family’s struggle to find the truth surrounding LaVena’s death, and their continued pursuit of justice for their daughter. As Dr. Johnson explains it — from the day his daughter’s body was returned to him, he had grave suspicions about the Army’s characterization of her death as suicide.
He says that while viewing his daughter’s body at the funeral home, he developed concerns about the bruising on her face. He was also puzzled by the discrepancy in the autopsy report regarding the location of the gunshot wound. Dr. Johnson, a U. S. Army veteran and a twenty-five year U. S. Army civilian employee who had counseled veterans, was mystified about how the exit wound of an M-16 shot could be so small. The hole in LaVena’s head appeared to be more the size of a pistol shot rather than an M-16 round. He questioned why the exit hole was on the left side of her head, when she was right handed. But the fact that military uniform white gloves were glued onto LaVena’s hands, hiding third degree burns, is what deepened Dr. Johnson’s suspicion that the Army’s investigation into the death of his daughter was flawed.
As the doc**entary will show, over the next two and one-half years, Dr. and Mrs. Johnson and their family and friends, through the Freedom of Information Act and Congressional offices, relentlessly requested that the Department of the Army supply them with all doc**ents concerning LaVena’s death. With each response of the Army to their demands, another piece of information/evidence about LaVena’s death emerged.
Most shocking, was a CD Dr. Johnson received of photographs taken by Army investigators of his daughter’s body as it lay where it had been found, as well as other photographs of her disrobed body taken just prior to the autopsy.
These photographs reveal that LaVena, a small woman, barely 5 feet tall and weighing less than 100 pounds, had been brutally beaten. The photographs of her disrobed body showed bruises, scratch marks and teeth imprints on the upper part of her torso. The right side of her back as well as her right hand had been burned and there was clear evidence of sexual assault.
As the Johnsons explain in our interviews, despite the bruises, scratches, teeth imprints and burns on her body, Lavena was found completely dressed in a burning contractor’s tent. There was a blood trail outside the tent. She apparently had been dressed after the attack and her body moved into the tent and set it on fire.
On April 9, 2008, Dr. John Johnson and his wife, Linda, flew from their home in St. Louis for meetings with U.S. Congress members and their staffs, requesting that the Army reopen LaVena’s case. There they met with Representative Clay from Missouri, his staff, and representatives from the Army’s investigative unit. The Army maintained its position throughout the dialogue and had no answers for the Johnsons when contradictions in the evidence were pointed out. They steadfastly insisted that LaVena had shot herself.
Today the Johnsons are continuing the fight to have their daughter’s case reopened by the Army and are still requesting a congressional hearing into the obvious cover-up. As filmmakers we are following this renewed effort, and have initiated our own meetings with Congressional members of both the Armed Services Committee and the Oversight Committee.
Interviews with our Military Consultant, (Ret.) Colonel Ann Wright will also be included in the film. Colonel Wright will provide an overview of sexual abuse of women troops in the military, its alarming increase, and describe several other suspicious ‘suicides’, that have yet to be resolved.
Dr. John and Mrs. Linda Johnson have created a scholarship fund to honor their daughter. Donations can be made to:
The LaVena L. Johnson College Scholarship Fund
P.O. Box 117
Florissant, MO 63032
at 2:10 am
This country was build on guns, the constitution gives everyone the rights to bear arms.What the hell is Al Sharpton talking about when you have had white people with guns at Obama`s rally.First Al Sharpton jumped on the Mike Vick`s Haters bandwagon and now he`s doing what he thinks white america whats him to do by speaking out against Gilbert Arenas. The brother knows what he did was wrong and now he has to deal with the white media and the haters on e.s.p.n like Skip Bayless.They are already trying to tear Tiger Woods Legacy and name apart.We do not need another black man being bad mouth by another black man or the likes of Al Sharpton just to please the white media.Sharpton needs to be addressing the violence in video games, music and television. You can`t turn on your T.V without seeing a cop show about people being killed or shows like american gangsters that glorifies murders and killers.JULIUS HODGE,JAMAAL TINSLEY,DARRENT WILLIAMS,SEAN TAYLOR AND CARL LANDRY are players who have been either shot or killed by would-be robbers or killers.Maybe if these guys had guns they could have defended themselves like most americans at a young age are taught to do.This is a free country the last time I heard so that gives a man the rights to go wherever he please and to protect himself at all times.They even have guns on college campus nowadays for protection.People are doing bad these days and will try and take your money or your life. You can call Al Sharpton or the police if you can.Or you can pull out Dirty Harry and let him do the talking for you.Everyone don`t just march and sing to get their point across. Some of us let our constitutional rights to bear arms do the talking for us.The white man has always used his guns to protect himself, why shouldn`t we.
AL SHARPTON SHUT UP!
at 4:10 pm
I agree Toni_anthony.
at 11:03 am
the nba gone do what they do…i can understand his stance though
at 9:41 am
Wow! Now this is different! I’m surprised Sharpton is NOT blaiming the gun’s for being guns! It’s so rare SELF PROFESSED leaders of the black race? Call’s a Spade A Spade! Normally whatever is done is mimimized plus blamed on everything & everybody EXCEPT the PERSON(S) & their actions! Now this is truly different! Sharpton actually putting blame where the blame goes? Maybe there is a god afterall???
at 12:56 am
Al Sharpton is looking at the big picture. I commend him for it.
Some of you are bringing up issues that are not related to black on black crime, and worse, not even relevant.
When you go to a basketball game or go to a club you shouldn’t have to worry about some idiot bringing in a gun.
If it that easy to bring in guns think how easy it would be to bring in bullets.
at 12:28 am
I do understand Al Sharpton’s intent. The problem is that he seems to be urging a white man to harshly punish a black. Quit being an Uncle Tom and mediate if you want to stick your nose in matters that have nothing to do with you. You want to get on a man for having guns in his locker then why don’t you talk about how the govermnment has guns manufactured for senseless wars and our tax dollars pay for all that nonsense. Arenas didn’t need to put the guns on the chair. He should have taken the guns out and ut them in his gym bag and left. Plaxico got shot in his leg for goodness sakes. If people can’t even own guns then why do they exist. Get rid of them all and no one will have to worry about being shot and there will be no gun warfare. I’m sick of this halfass regulation by the government anyway. They want to lock folks up for gun possession when they’re the reason for this problem in the first place.
N.S. Ugezene
http://stores.lulu.com/NSUgezene
at 12:00 am
al sharpton has nothing better to do then get involved in somthing that has nothing 2 do with him . he didnt say anything when kanye did that dumb s**t on mtv to that little white girl.. but when a white person does somthing hes all over it… he needs to sit down and die .. he reign of running hes mouth is over
at 9:23 pm
The black leadership have fail us to the point of no return. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and so on are nothing more then a laughing stock. Tell his @#$ to go and sit down. PLEASE!
at 8:25 pm
Why is it we lose all the real people in the world due to dumb s**t, but niggaz like b***h ass Al “Need a new hair-do cuz I been havin this same fucced up perm since I was 12 lookin-ass” Sharpton is still runnin round persecutin niggaz like he the law
at 6:27 pm
This is the same hypocrite that decided to appear on WWF Raw a few weeks. Does he even have a church?
at 6:10 pm
i’m glad he’s on the right side of this issue when he opened his mouth! this dumba55 g.a. should have any gun permit revoked and permanently denied one.
at 5:42 pm
AL SHARPTON GETS ON MY DAMN NERVOUS HE NEEDS TO GO FIND SOMETHING TO DO. LIKE SHUT THE HELL UP.
at 5:26 pm
WHY IS AL (PUBLICITY HUNGRY) SHARPTON MAKING COMMENTS ABOUT SOMETHING THAT HE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH…HIS POCKETS/BANK ACCOUNT MUST BE LOW OF FUNDS.
at 4:45 pm
Awwwww shlt!!!
(my DMX voice) HERE WE GO AGAIN!!!
the fuk the matter with this nlgger pointing his finger where it don’t belong….better yet I want my people 2 charge Al Sharpton for the crimes he committed against Malcolm X and M> Ali and who knows how many countless others working with the cross-dresser and the COINTELPRO
GOOGLE it
Al Sharpton spyed for the Red Spy Army
in a book written by Larry Kolb (his father Larry Kolb was and FBI Agent)
he states specifically “Al Sharpton was a clandestine spy” for Miles Copeland who co-founded the C.I.A.