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Let it blow over. A lot of people have said things that were twisted and/or misconstrued.
If you must know, go to the website of any major national or New York newspaper and search for a "Charles Rangel" article first run in the past 3-4 days.
Charlie Rangel is a great Congressman, but sometimes his mouth runs away with him.
Rangel suddenly appeared in the basement to deliver a message. He said, "[Police Commissioner Benjamin] Ward wants all police presence out of the building . . . now.
Seedman turned slightly, hesitated for the briefest of moments. "You, right now, are impeding an assault and attempted-homicide investigation. Leave."
Rangel lowered his voice and repeated his words. Seedman got face-to-face with Rangel. "Go upstairs and tell Commissioner Ward that the chief of detectives is conducting a show-up."
Rangel fired back: "All due respect, Chief, something's gotta be done. Upstairs is going to be turned into a parking lot if a riot ensues. Lots of people are going to get hurt, including cops. Now, we worked out a deal that all of the detained men will be brought into the 24 Precinct later today for questioning, but right now our priority is the well-being of the cops and the people of Harlem upstairs. [Emphasis added]
Seems to me that Rangel (obviously willingly) was serving as a messenger for the Commissioner and the Commissioner's boss, the Mayor.
Also seems like the immediate concern was to act in a manner to minimize the likelihood of further violence. Who knows what other lives might have been lost if other decisions were made?
It was a tragedy exacerbated by the unresolved justice process.
Not to get into this, but it strikes me that Obama is running for President. He's not running to be a non-office-holding civil rights leader. He already knows that you need a president willing to sign bills for activists' goals to come to fruition. The whole Obama as Martin Luther King analogy doesn't make much sense.
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