Results tagged “tawanabrawley”

On New DA's Transition Team: Infamous Disbarred Lawyer!

After Cyrus Vance Jr. was elected to Manhattan DA, his campaign issued a press release noting a 30+ person transition team, made up of other lawyers, union leaders, and others. The Daily News notes the inclusion of Rev. Dr. C. Vernon Mason, best known for advising Tawana Brawley. Mason, who even ran against Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau in 1985, was eventually disbarred for "mistreating poor clients" in 1995; he's currently a deacon at the Abyssinian Baptist church and a NY Theological Seminary faculty member. Vance's team said, "C. Vernon Mason is a well-respected clergy member who cares deeply about his community and the criminal justice issues faced by youth and adults."

November marks the 20th anniversary of the start of the Tawana Brawley affair--an incident that inflamed racial relations in New York and across the country after a teenage girl alleged that she had been sexually assaulted and abused by police. The ensuing media circus thrust Rev. Al Sharpton into the limelight and established his bona fides as a community spokesman. It also tarnished the reputations of the people she accused of raping her and, later...

A who's who of the Democratic party has been at the Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network conference in Midtown this past week. Opening day saw hopeful John Edwards and Democratic party chair Howard Dean, yesterday included former president Bill Clinton, Senator Joe Biden, Senator Christopher Dodd, and Governor Bill Richardson, today has Senator Hillary Clinton and tomorrow Senator Barack Obama and Representative Dennis Kucinich are appearing - which is why it's called the "Sharpton primary" by many. With his profile very high after the Don Imus-Rutgers women's basketball incident, the Sun notes that Sharpton is a political force.

A NY Times reporter spent yesterday observing and experiencing the Reverend Al Sharpton's action rally at his National Action Network headquarters.

On most Saturdays, the so-called House of Justice on West 145th Street can feel as casual as the International House of Pancakes 10 blocks south. Anyone can walk in and take a seat. The words etched onto the large tinted window at the entrance, facing 145th Street, read not House of Justice or National Action Network but Diamond Gym, the storefront’s former occupant, which explains why the walls are lined with mirrors.

So in all of the hub-bub in our comments section yesterday about photographs taken at yesterday's rally, we worry you might have missed this gem and its accompanying scene:

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