Sharpton speaks out against mayor's critics

The Rev. Al Sharpton gave an aggressive defense Thursday of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's handling of recent unrest, saying it was time to "end the scapegoating."

At a summit of religious and other leaders at New Shiloh Baptist Church in West Baltimore, the New York-based civil rights activist said criticism of the mayor's performance during the violence of the past week has been unfair.

"Don't blame the mayor for what the last 50 years of mayors and governors didn't do," said Sharpton, president of the National Action Network and an MSNBC host.
He contended that the events that sparked looting and burning in Baltimore this week — particularly the death of Freddie Gray after suffering a spinal cord injury while in police custody — were a national issue. He pointed to a string of cases in which African-American men died after encounters with police — in Ferguson, Mo.; NorthCharleston, S.C. and on Staten Island, N.Y.

"We can't keep running like hamsters on a treadmill from one town to the next," he said.

Rawlings-Blake has faced criticism for waiting to request activation of the National Guard as rioting spread across the city Monday. Sharpton and others praised her Thursday for trying to change state law to make it easier to discipline police officers. Her proposal to change Maryland's "bill of rights" for police was rejected by the General Assembly.

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