James O’Keefe Pretends To Be Scared Of Al Sharpton

The ever-hyperbolic James O’Keefe recently announced an upcoming release this Sunday that had him “afraid for (his) life.” Now the conservative provocateur has decided to go ahead and release his very dangerous video, which turns out to be a hidden camera recording of Eric Garner’s daughter dissing Al Sharpton.

Today’s Cover: Eric Garner’s daughter says Al Sharpton is ‘all about the money’ http://t.co/ad8mZjlkhL pic.twitter.com/gNvOTIV2xp

— New York Post (@nypost) February 24, 2015

Basically, O’Keefe’s interviewer got some black people to complain about the Reverend’s priorities and tactics without knowing they were on camera. That ethical gap is normal business practice for O’Keefe, who is making a classic misdirection play with this video. Instead of taking on the systems of white supremacy that let police officers murder black citizens without consequences, O’Keefe would like us to concentrate on hating and fearing one of the most prominent black individuals in the protest movement, thus blunting all efforts to achieve justice.

This is exactly why O’Keefe dressed up like a law school student to make the ACORN videos, then pretended he’d been dressed like a pimp when he presented them on Fox News. Rather than attack the moral high ground of the Fair Housing Act, the longtime friend of white supremacists elected to smear the largest organization in America that was enforcing the law. He always aims low to reach high.

To be clear, no police officers are putting James O’Keefe or his interviewer in an illegal choke-hold, or beating them during a traffic-stop, or mowing them down in a hail of bullets. Their ‘fear’ is entirely aimed at Sharpton, a 60 year-old man who has never killed anyone in his life and who doesn’t even carry a gun. Amazingly, this nonsense will absolutely work with the conservative Breitbart audience, who approve of sublimated racism and don’t care how illogical, immoral, or ridiculous O’Keefe’s work may be as long as it reinforces their conspiracy-addled political prejudices.