I lived in NYC in that period, (Brooklyn and Manhattan from '83-'00) was a homeowner and had a vested interest in city. And in my opinion, Sharpton cynically used racism to expand his political profile and power.
Now I don't think there's anything wrong with opportunistic behavior, or promoting one's own self-interest, but Sharpton played a dangerous games further inflaming an already racially hot NYC of the late '80s. From Bernard Goetz vigilantism to the Central Park jogger to the Crown Heights Riots, NYC was an inferno oh racial divide. And all this wasn't Sharpton's fault, bur IMO he tried to profit from it.
And fuck him for that.
And he couldn't fucking apologize?
Now is it right for others to pay his fines for his guilt of defamation?
Its done all the time in other cases, for defense funds, but to the extent his defamation the white DA fed hatred, and his notoriety as a firebrand drove donations, perhaps the moral of the story is that crime pays, but it shouldn't.
My two scents.
Sharpton's involvement in this episode, was ugly and it stunk.