Rev. Al Sharpton denounced the nationwide trend of “knockout game” attacks on Saturday, saying the behavior by mostly black youth attacking random white, Jewish, and Asian strangers to knock them out with one punch “is deplorable and must be condemned by all us.”
Sharpton made his remarks at his weekly National Action Network meeting in Harlem, according to the New York Post. The victims of the “knockout game” have been predominantly white. Some have been of Asian descent. In New York, many of the victims have been Jews, including a 12-year-old Jewish boy.
“We would not be silent if it was the other way around. We cannot be silent or in any way reluctant to confront it when it is coming from our own community,” he said. “Kids are randomly knocking out people [from] another race–some specifically going at Jewish people.”
Sharpton, the president of the National Action Network and an MSNBC host, said, “this kind of insane thuggery–there is nothing cute about that. There is no game play about knocking somebody out, and it is not a game. It is an assault and is bias, and it is wrong.”
Sharpton plans to meet with black leaders on Monday to discuss their “next move,” though there were no indications as of Saturday Sharpton planned to lead marches against the “knockout” attacks.
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