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
I've learned how to measure what I say. Al Sharpton in 1986 was trying to be heard. I was a local guy and was like, 'Y'all are ignoring us.'
Everything from who sits on your local board of education to the prosecutors and judicial appointments in your area and much more are all impacted by who holds political office.
When the culture of police departments is sometimes infused with bias or preconceived ideas against certain groups, there needs to be reform and retraining throughout. And unfortunately, we cannot rely on local departments to police themselves; we need intervention from the top.
When we look at the situation in Ferguson, Missouri and the tragic death of Michael Brown, we are reminded of the importance of who we elect to our city councils, who sits on our local board of education committees, who we pick to represent us in Congress, in the Senate and more.
Local prosecutors work alongside local police officers on a regular basis and are therefore conflicted when it comes to prosecuting those same officers. They are under extreme pressure from local police unions and from rank-and-file cops.
We're going to use this Amadou Diallo case to stop this in these United States once and for all. Just like we needed the federal government to come into Alabama and Mississippi 30 years ago, we need the federal government to come into New York to deal with the police today.
We want arrests. We want indictments. We want prosecution.
We want all of these policeman to face justice.
Brown became like a father figure to me who insisted I live the life of a monk, let alone a minister. I had to stay in the hotel he stayed in, stay in my room, and he would almost select my girlfriends. He was very adamant that he had promised my mother that I would not go wayward on the road, and he enforced it. So even though I knew the entertainment world, I was not of the entertainment world -- and not by any choice of my own. He promised my mother that he'd make sure I was never on drugs, that I never lost my head, and that he'd take care of me himself. And he did.
Rosa Parks is in history because she made this nation deal with changing the laws and policies of this nation unlike anybody else.
At the Apollo, he asked me to come and stand in for him. He's like my father.
I was very impressed with how mature he was for his age,
I think clearly it was the right thing to do if we're committed to defeating Bloomberg. This shows the strength of our community.
We hope to appeal to all sides to try and have some type of truce or cease-fire. We are not on either side. We are on the side of getting help for the children -- medical care as well for those that have been displaced.