I have to agree that Sharpton's history is troublesome.
Darkcorp, I think you have to take the "accused cops of rape" thing in a bit if hindsight. Remember this was before the "Cops shoots unarmed suspect 54 times" or the "Cops sodomize prisoner with night stick" headlines of a few years ago.
THe story was that Twana Brawley said she was gang raped by a bunch of officials. She was an attractive black adolescent and for awhile they had her secluded in a church because they didn't trust the police. Later it was found that Brawley lied. Not sure if Sharpton knew about it, but it was guilt by accomplice.
That said, did blacks have reasons to fear cop in NY? You bet. These were tense times. This was either during the Dinkins administration in NY or right before, and it was the issue of race that brought down Koch (one of the longest serving mayors) and brought (and eventually killed Dinkins).
As for the anti-semetic thing- I think you are referring to the riots in Brooklyn between blacks and jews.
That happened when a car, driven by a jewish guy, went out of control and plowed a black kid into the side of the wall, essentially crushing her in half. When the cops showed up they quickly realized that the girl was a goner and went to help the jewish people who had been in the accident. But the blacks looked at this as if the white cops were ignoring the blacks and favoring the jews. This sparked the riots and the intensity.
So yes, Sharpton was in some bad shit, but it was also a bad time. For a good read- check out Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities for the intensity of the time. This was also depicted in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing- summer in New York, Bed Stuy- things got intense.
Not making excuses, just putting things in context.
as for aks- it's not ebonics, it's just NY. Ebonics came about after Sharpton, and actually developed more as a west coast phenomena, I think.