It looks like Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network (NAN) protest held in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, December 13th, was far more rocky than planned. According to various protest attendees, Reverend Al was actually selling VIP passes which would allow people access to stand close to the stage where he and other speakers addressed the crowd.
Various individuals who attended the massive gathering complained that NAN officials were threatening to call security on protesters who were standing too close to the stage without a VIP pass. Deterring protesters from feeling welcome at a public gathering, regardless of if they had a VIP pass or not, ultimately defeated the purpose of having a rally to raise awareness about the police injustices in the United States. The fact that VIP passes were actually being used in this type of situation was very upsetting to many individuals to begin with. To top it all off, merchandise in the form of "I Can't Breathe" t-shirts was being sold at the rally, which many people found to be offensive because they don't think that this situation should be something that people profit off of.
Out of the many voices who criticized Al Sharpton, Shad Moss aka Bow Wow, was one of them. In the past, he's come down on Reverend Al for being anything but a genuine civil rights activist, and this time he bashed Al publicly on Facebook for selling VIP sections and also "selling cameras to make money during the march." Like Shad, some who attended the actual rally stated that they believe Al and his NAN organization were using this opportunity as a media promotion for them, rather than with the intent to actually bring something positive from it.
Check out what Shad Moss and others had to say about Reverend Al Sharpton's NAN rally in Washington, D.C., above.
Source: Twitter/Facebook/Twitchy.com
