Al Sharpton
Al Sharpton
Alfred Charles "Al" Sharpton Jr.is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, television/radio talk show host and a trusted White House adviser who, according to 60 Minutes, has become President Barack Obama's "go-to black leader." In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election. He hosts his own radio talk show, Keepin' It Real, and he makes regular guest appearances on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. In 2011, he was named the host of...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCivil Rights Leader
Date of Birth3 October 1954
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
Getting Democrats organized is like herding cats.
As I ran for president, I hoped that one child would come out of the ghetto like I did, could look at me walk across the stage with governors and senators and know they didn't have to be a drug dealer, they didn't have to be a hoodlum, they didn't have to be a gangster. They could stand up from a broken home, on welfare, and they could run for president of the United States.
I don't think Dr. King helped racial harmony, I think he helped racial justice. What I profess to do is help the oppressed and if I cause a load of discomfort in the white community and the black community, that in my opinion means I'm being effective, because I'm not trying to make them comfortable. The job of an activist is to make people tense and cause social change.
Life is about not where you start, but where you're going. That's family values.
We blacks had problems in the '60s and we solved them by marching. We've still got problems - let's march.
If a cop sees a person running out of a store with a gun he's seeing a crime. He's not seeing a person standing.
This is not about what party you're part of. This is about right and wrong, ... the conscience of this nation.
I'm projected as an ambulance chaser, but I'm more the ambulance. People call me because they know I will come.... I have never fought a case where they didn't ask me to come. People have this picture like I'm sitting up in bed at night with a walkie-talkie. "You hear anything? Oh, let's run! It's Virginia today!"... Every victim calls us.... "Who put Sharpton in charge?" The victim!
I understand deficit spending. I was born in deficit spending.
The Democratic Party hasn't whipped anybody into a frenzy. The assumption is that the people that are marching and protesting and standing up against this don't have enough sense to stand up for their own interests.
But we believed if we kept on working, if we kept on marching, if we kept on voting, if we kept on believing, we would make America beautiful for everybody.
I'm a patriot in the truest sense of the word.
I've never done anything else in my life other than preach and be an activist. Way before I was known.
I have the right to express myself. Once we get through expressing, do we really move forward in society.