NAN Decency Initiative: Tamika Mallory

Statement from Tamika Mallory

As National Director of the National Action Network’s Decency Initiative I write to refute statements made in a letter circulating on the internet that completely distort Reverend Sharpton’s position on the Dunbar Village rape case.

First, the National Action Network and Reverend Al Sharpton have advocated against any form of violence or degradation against women since its inception. In fact, in January of this year Rev. Sharpton personally visited Dunbar Village with William Franklyn Richardson, III, president of our Florida chapter, to denounce the living conditions there and the rape and violence that occurred against the victim and her son. He pledged to return and spend the night in Dunbar to hopefully further expose the living conditions that create an environment for such acts of violence to go unchallenged, but due to a storm on the night of his scheduled visit, we have rescheduled the sleep-in to mid April.

Rev. Sharpton’s January visit to Dunbar was widely reported, which is why it is strange to me that anyone would feel that his subsequent statements with the NAACP would be any different from his original statement in January. If there was confusion, one would think a person would at least call us to inquire before jumping to a self serving attack on a position we never took.

Rev. Sharpton was in Florida three weeks ago as part of a tour to make sure the Florida and Michigan delegates of the Democratic Convention, would not be seated since primaries were unfairly held in January. While in Florida, the local NAACP chapter asked him to appear at a press conference where they alleged that since the Dunbar Village incident, the local prosecutor had not held several young whites in a neighboring city who had gang raped a young girl, to the same standard that the assailants in Dunbar are facing. Their point was to underscore how the local prosecutor will not treat whites who have committed a deplorable act the same way they treat blacks. Reverend Sharpton attended and made it clear that he thinks both acts were heinous and deplorable and that both groups should be punished to the full extent of the law. He in no way excused, justified, or called for leniency in the case of the black assailants.

Whether it was Tawana Brawley, several years ago, who many didn’t believe or Meagan Williams, today, who many have forgotten, Reverend Sharpton has stood against women being violated and has supported with resources and his presence our Decency Initiative which is part of his national civil right’s organization. The Decency Initiative has been fighting against the violent and misogynistic language against women. He has done this to the chagrin of many of his supporters and many of his friends in the entertainment industry.

For anyone to distort his position and then attack it without even a phone call and to seemingly and purposely omit the fact that the press conference was about the white kids being treated with kid gloves for the same despicable act is in itself sexist. All women of all communities should expect the law to protect them and we should at least check with those that put themselves on the line for us before we rush to judge a distorted story.

Rev. Sharpton is no stranger to the causes of black women and he should at least be given the benefit of doubt before we accuse him, particularly when it is not true.

I trust that all responsible will correct this misrepresentation…