Al Sharpton

AKA2D '91 · #1 01-22-2003, 10:07 AM

Sharpton files papers for possible presidential run
Wednesday, January 22, 2003 Posted: 6:38 AM EST (1138 GMT)

Sharpton told CNN he would formally announce his run in April or May.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Declaring that he will speak for the "disaffected," the Rev. Al Sharpton Tuesday filed paperwork to form an exploratory committee for a possible presidential run in 2004 as a Democrat.

"I think in the last several years, the majority of Americans have been left out of the political dialogue," he said. "I think there is no candidate ... that can speak to the disaffected, young people, minorities, women, gays and lesbians with more credibility and more of a track record of advocacy than I have."

He said the Democratic party cannot win the White House next year "unless it expands its base, unless it goes and gets those who have been disaffected."

Sharpton, 48, said his candidacy would not be "black only;" he would represent everyone.

"Not only blacks, but Latinos, working class whites, anti-war activists who don't understand why a lot of people who are talking about running voted to give Bush the authority to have military action in Iraq," he said after filing papers with the Federal Election Commission.

The longtime civil rights activist told CNN's Judy Woodruff on "Inside Politics" he would formally announce his candidacy in April or May.

Sharpton said the political process must be put back in the hands of the people.

"I think we have reduced America too much now to 'Who has the dollars?' rather than to 'Who has the message?'" he said. "We've got to stop the corporate mentality of politics and go back to the people."

Sharpton said he'll keep his campaign promises if he is elected to the White House.

"I'm the only one that is talking about running this race who is anti-war, anti-death penalty, anti-tax cut, across the board, not voting one way on the Hill and speaking another way on the trail," he said, referring to other Democrats who have already jumped into the presidential race.

The Democratic field for 2004 currently includes Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut; Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts; Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina; former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean; and former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt.

Sharpton has never held public office. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 1992 and 1994 and for mayor of New York City in 1997.

He founded the National Action Network in 1991, which is described on its Web site as a "civil rights organization whose mission is to be the voice of empowerment for the disenfranchised throughout America."

Sharpton has also spoken out for Abner Louima, the Haitian immigrant who was assaulted by New York police officers in 1997; Amadou Diallo, an unarmed man shot by New York police dozens of times; and 16-year-old Donovan Jackson, who was punched by an Inglewood, California, police officer while he was handcuffed.

He also spent 87 days in jail for protesting the Navy's bombing exercises on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques

nikki1920 · #2 01-22-2003, 10:47 AM

Steeltrap · #3 01-22-2003, 12:20 PM

Nikki -- I agree w/you. I am a political independent who will support Dem candidates, but I prefer moderate, pro-business, centrists. Sharpton, IMO, is too far left to win a national election and should have tried for a congressional seat.

However, this is disturbing:

From Yahoo! News

Fire Breaks Out at Al Sharpton's Office
1 hour, 18 minutes ago Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!

NEW YORK - Fire broke out Wednesday at the Harlem building that houses the offices of the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network.
The fire was reported at 8:30 a.m. on the building's second floor, the same floor as Sharpton's offices. Firefighters were beginning to bring the fire under control an hour later.
One civilian was being treated for smoke inhalation, authorities said.
It was not immediately clear whether anyone was in Sharpton's offices at the time or how near the offices were to the fire. A call to a National Action Network spokeswoman was not immediately returned.
On Tuesday, Sharpton formally filed papers seeking the Democratic party's nomination for the 2004 presidential race.

Bamboozled · #4 01-22-2003, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Steeltrap
Fire Breaks Out at Al Sharpton's Office
1 hour, 18 minutes ago Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!

NEW YORK - Fire broke out Wednesday at the Harlem building that houses the offices of the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network.
The fire was reported at 8:30 a.m. on the building's second floor, the same floor as Sharpton's offices. Firefighters were beginning to bring the fire under control an hour later.
One civilian was being treated for smoke inhalation, authorities said.
It was not immediately clear whether anyone was in Sharpton's offices at the time or how near the offices were to the fire. A call to a National Action Network spokeswoman was not immediately returned.
On Tuesday, Sharpton formally filed papers seeking the Democratic party's nomination for the 2004 presidential race.

See now, I'm not a Sharpton advocate by any means, but it's isht like this that will make me support him. I swear, some days I can't figure out if it's 2003 or 1963 (like that was so long ago

). Now, I know I'm speculating, but I have a historical track record to back me up (i.e. Medgar Evers, Malcom X, Dr. King, etc...). I doubt that this was some random act. How dare some uppity Negro have the audacity to run for president of this here great nation? So, while he probably won't get my vote, I say "Give 'em hell, Al." Just watch your back in the process.

AKA2D '91 · #5 01-22-2003, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bamboozled

See now, I'm not a Sharpton advocate by any means, but it's isht like this that will make me support him. I swear, some days I can't figure out if it's 2003 or 1963. Now, I know I'm speculating, but I have a historical track record to back me up (i.e. Medgar Evers, Malcom X, Dr. King, etc...). I doubt that this was some random act. How dare some uppity Negro have the audacity to run for president of this here great nation? So, while he probably won't get my vote, I say "Give 'em hell, Al." Just watch your back in the process.

nodding...
Amen...

Gyrl7 · #6 01-22-2003, 02:19 PM

Mmmmph, Mmmmmmph, Mmmmm.......Lawd Hammercy

RedefinedDiva · #7 01-22-2003, 06:25 PM

While I don't support ALL of Al's views, I am down for our cause. If Al feel that he can give our people an adequate voice in this country, then I have his back. I am an optimist, so I feel that he can win it. However, if he doesn't, I am sure that Black Americans will turn out in enough numbers to show that we have a lot of power. This will definitely be a memorable election....

Steeltrap · #8 01-23-2003, 06:41 PM

This article is by an AfAm columnist in Newsday, the Long Island, N.Y. newspaper. It speaks to some of the issues I personally have w/Rev. Al:

Sharpton's Future Rides on Fessing Up Past
Sheryl McCarthy

January 23, 2003

Now that Al Sharpton is a presidential candidate, the inevitable questions about his character are cropping up again. When asked about his role in the infamous Tawana Brawley rape case on a Sunday talk show, Sharpton sidestepped the issue. He was indignant that the question was even asked.

"The next time anybody wants to know about Tawana Brawley, I'm going to ask them, 'Do you ask Teddy Kennedy about Chappaquiddick? Do you ask Hillary Clinton about her husband?'"

Where've you been all these years, Al? One of the reasons Ted Kennedy gave up on the presidency after his 1980 campaign was he realized that questions about his treatment of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick in 1969 would always dog him, and because he could never sufficiently explain his behavior.

Later, Kennedy's efforts as a senator to defeat Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court nomination on moral grounds failed partly because around the same time he spent an evening drinking with his nephew, William Kennedy Smith - the same night Smith was accused of raping a woman. When you declare yourself qualified to run the whole country, you have an obligation to show that you possess a certain modicum of character. And part of that is owning up to your past mistakes.

Has Sharpton forgotten how Jesse Jackson, a former presidential candidate, was haunted by his "Hymietown" remark in 1984? Jackson apologized repeatedly, even seeking forgiveness at a Jewish temple, and was still apologizing four years later when he ran for president again. This gave him a little more moral capital and allowed him to be the most exciting candidate in the 1988 race. The baby business - well, that came later.

Even Bill Clinton confessed to being a philanderer when the issue came up in his first campaign, and he was forced to admit it again when he was president.

Sharpton continues to act as if those who raise the Tawana Brawley case are the hatemongers, the ones who are avoiding the really important issues and who are still living in the past. But doesn't he know this case is going to haunt him through any presidential campaign?

In the years since this bogus rape shook New York, Sharpton has reinvented himself, becoming trimmer and better groomed, responding to racially charged incidents in a more circumspect way, and making respectable showings in a mayoral and U.S. Senate race. In his journey from street activist to purported statesman, he's expanded his agenda from black issues to global ones - the Mideast, the bombing of Vieques and a potential war with Iraq.

But he still can't bring himself to admit he was wrong about Tawana Brawley and that he maliciously slandered the white former prosecutor, Steven Pagones, by accusing him of rape and murder.

It seems to be a point of pride for Sharpton to cling to the fiction that a young woman was raped and that the system protected the rapists, instead of admitting that he scammed the public and the system to boost his popular appeal. To say he erred would be an admission that he did something really immoral, even as he waved a banner of righteous indignation at an allegedly corrupt system.

Sharpton's not against demanding apologies from others, however. He believes reparations should be paid to African-Americans for slavery because it's the only serious form of apology, he says. And last summer he demanded that MGM, the movie company, apologize to black people for some irreverent remarks about civil rights figures in the popular movie "Barbershop."

Why not practice what you preach, Al, and fess up to the people you deceived? Five years ago, on a trip to Barbados, you told the Barbadians about the moral imperative for African-Americans to be paid back for slavery: "It's like I break into your house, take your furniture, your wife, money, rape your daughter and say if you act right I may apologize. You can't separate us from our history, and until we deal with history, we cannot deal with the future."

That goes for you too, Al.
Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.

Rain Man · #9 01-24-2003, 11:20 AM

....was how he got punked on the Morton Downey Jr. Show

Back in 1988, he and activist Roy Innis was going back and forth on an issue I don't remember offhand what it was.

Roy was standing over Al who was seated in his chair. Suddenly Al jumped up and got in Roy's face as if to say, "What the bump did you just say to me?" Roy then shoved Al back in his chair, shouting something to the effect of, "Sit yo' butt back down!" When Al fell back in his seat, it toppled over backwards, making for a VERY humiliated Sharpton on national TV. It was one of THE funniest incidents I have ever seen on TV. I LMHO for a good three minutes after the incident, and to this day the very though makes me laugh.

If I find a site that has a video clip of this scene, I will post it on this thread.

Exquisite5 · #10 01-25-2003, 02:19 PM

I can't help it I'm CTFU at the thought of Al Sharpton as president. I'm down for the cause, but all I can think of is diplomats from other countries whispering, "the president's got a perm..."

Steeltrap · #11 01-26-2003, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Exquisite5
I can't help it I'm CTFU at the thought of Al Sharpton as president. I'm down for the cause, but all I can think of is diplomats from other countries whispering, "the president's got a perm..."

CTFU. CTFU. CTFU.

Oh, Soror, I can't believe you went there. On our way to the joint Founder's Day in SoCal today, I happened to share this and one of my chapter sorors said she couldn't believe that man, at his age, had a perm. I suggested it was extensions.

Bamboozled · #12 02-11-2003, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bamboozled
See now, I'm not a Sharpton advocate by any means, but it's isht like this that will make me support him. I swear, some days I can't figure out if it's 2003 or 1963 (like that was so long ago ). Now, I know I'm speculating, but I have a historical track record to back me up (i.e. Medgar Evers, Malcom X, Dr. King, etc...). I doubt that this was some random act. How dare some uppity Negro have the audacity to run for president of this here great nation? So, while he probably won't get my vote, I say "Give 'em hell, Al." Just watch your back in the process.

A local radio station in New York is asking everyone to send $1.00 to assist in the rebuilding of Sharpton's Harlem offices. Sharpton is determined not to let this "incident" be an impediment to his run for the presidency.

"I'm grateful to God no one was hurt and there has been no human loss of life," Reverend Sharpton said. “We will rebuild the House of Justice. There must be a place where people can come…[and] I will continue in my drive toward the nomination," he continued. “I will promise you there will always be a House of Justice. [You] are the people who built the House of Justice. And we will build it again."

He observed that some people use fear as an escape, saying, "This shows it's dangerous if you run. They're going to try to intimidate and dig at you." But Sharpton's response is, "Well, to me, it's dangerous if I don't run. They've been digging on me all my life, and we've been in danger all our lives." "The question is not what you risk if you step up; the question is what you risk if you don't," he added.

All donations of $1.00 can be sent to National Action Network, P.O. Box 667, New York, New York, 10035.

Never did I think I'd be supporting Al's run for president, but I put my $1.00 in the mail today. It's all about the principalities of the situation, LOL.

Rain Man · #13 01-15-2007, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rain Man

....was how he got punked on the Morton Downey Jr. Show

Back in 1988, he and activist Roy Innis was going back and forth on an issue I don't remember offhand what it was.

Roy was standing over Al who was seated in his chair. Suddenly Al jumped up and got in Roy's face as if to say, "What the bump did you just say to me?" Roy then shoved Al back in his chair, shouting something to the effect of, "Sit yo' butt back down!" When Al fell back in his seat, it toppled over backwards, making for a VERY humiliated Sharpton on national TV. It was one of THE funniest incidents I have ever seen on TV. I LMHO for a good three minutes after the incident, and to this day the very though makes me laugh.

If I find a site that has a video clip of this scene, I will post it on this thread.

As promised, here is the link. Funny stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdRYd...elated&search=

tld221 · #14 01-15-2007, 07:56 PM

impressive. a link to a post from almost 4 years ago.

(glad i checked the OP date before i ran off telling people sharpton was running for pres in 08)

Rain Man · #15 01-15-2007, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tld221

impressive. a link to a post from almost 4 years ago.

(glad i checked the OP date before i ran off telling people sharpton was running for pres in 08)

*LOL*

I didn't want people to think I don't keep my word.