E-mail a friendRev. Al Sharpton
original airdate July 29, 2004
Al Sharpton is both constant and controversial. Growing up, his world was churches, nightclubs and protest marches. He was ordained at age 10 and preached on tour with Mahalia Jackson. He briefly managed James Brown, was a youth organizer with Don King, worked on projects with Jesse Jackson and, in '91, founded the National Action Network. Sharpton was the first Black to run for the U.S. Senate from NY and won 32% of the vote in his '97 run for mayor. He also ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in '04.
Video of Rev. Al Sharpton.
Rev. Al Sharpton
Tavis: Not that this guy needed an introduction before last night, but after last night, he certainly needs no introduction; the Reverend Al Sharpton. Reverend?
Sharpton: How you doing, Tavis?
Tavis: I'm well man. How are you?
Sharpton: I'm great.
Tavis: So, obviously, you didn't get the memo from Kerry last night. No Bush bashing, man.
Sharpton: Well, I don't think I bashed Bush. I didn't call him any names. I answered his questions. If he went to the National Urban League. He said he wanted to ask African Americans some questions. I was not allowed to answer him there, so I figured that I would answer him in front of the Democratic convention.
Tavis: Did you get cussed out backstage for going past your six minutes?
Sharpton: No, in fact Terry McAuliffe, the chairman of the party, had me as his guest at the skybox for the rest of the evening, and Sen. Kennedy and others were there, were very happy that someone answered him on these issues. You know, I really was offended that George Bush would throw the gauntlet down like black Americans need to choose. 'Why are you there? Aren't you being taken for granted?'
Tavis: And called your name.
Sharpton: Yeah.
Tavis: In his Urban League speech.
Sharpton: Well, I think I had a responsibility to answer that. It was almost insulting, like we were unthinkingly voting Democrat, not based on the record; and I went a little over time but a lot of that was the audience reaction, and I had to go with the flow.
Tavis: Got to go with the flow. Stop applauding, you all. I need my time. I need my time. Stop applauding. Let me ask you, before I get more into your speech and the speech that Kerry gives tonight. Let me ask you what you make of what President Bush had to say at the Urban League? What he basically said for those who didn't see the speech or hear about it was that, he said that *(inaudible) black folk at the Urban League. By the way, he got three--you were there--he got three standing ovations. Now, clearly, Urban League black folk ain't NAACP black folk--
Sharpton: Right.
Tavis: --But that's it. You still black folk.
Sharpton: Right.
Tavis: You still got three standing ovations. But he basically said to these black folk, the Democratic Party has taken you for granted. The Republican Party has got, you know, we've ignored you all. We got more we can do, and I'm working on that, but you all are being played by the Democrats. Ain't he right about that?
Sharpton: But that's why I figured it had to be dealt with, because in all of this political language, talk of swing states. If you don't have the base which includes of course labor, women, blacks and Latinos, your swing vote won't mean anything because what are you swinging from? And I don't underestimate, with the faith-based initiatives and the argument on moral questions, that Bush is not going to try to make impact in the black vote. He knows he won't win it, but if he can go double digits, he's re-elected, and I wanted to take that on last night and say, we've got a fight. I sat in the room and watched blacks clap for George Bush, and that ought to be a major concern in the Democratic Party, and I didn't want to wait till November 3rd and say, 'I meant to tell you all, we need to take this on.' I took it on and started last night.
Tavis: How concerned then should the Democrats be about his moving from 9% of the black vote in 2000, to 11% or 12% or 13% in 2004?
Sharpton: Very concerned. And clearly this is no paranoia by Al Sharpton. He announced it. He said, 'I'm coming after you. We've got work to do.' He talked about Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, who I assume they're going to use at their convention and beyond that. So for the Democrats to act like, let's be Mr. Nice Guy, when somebody just walked in and slapped you upside the head and said, 'Aren't you all being taken for granted,' I think is a flawed strategy.
Tavis: What do you think of the Democratic response to Mr. Bush's statement? When I say response, I mean strategically. Strategically, what is the Democratic Party doing beyond giving Al Sharpton 20, 25 minutes in prime time? What are they doing strategically to suggest to you that they're taking his threat or his overture seriously?
Sharpton: Well, I think the fact they started the immediate campaign early with black America, and this is the first time I've heard of spending over a couple million dollars even before the convention. I think that--
Tavis: Although you do admit two million dollars is a drop in the bucket.
Sharpton: No, I admit it's a drop in the bucket, it's just a drop we never had, but it's a drop in the bucket. Putting blacks in place like Bill Lynch now as deputy campaign chair. There's some real movement toward trying to deal with it, but again, we need to do more, and we need to do it and do it visibly, because if black America does not come out and vote, well over 90% and in big numbers, George Bush could be re-elected, and we've got to be clear about that.
Tavis: Now that's the question. The Democrat--the black folk who do show up to vote are clearly, according to all the polls and surveys and studies, are going to vote for Kerry and Bush. I mean Kerry and Edwards, so those who do show up are going to vote for Kerry-Edwards. The question is whether or not the Democratic Party, Kerry-Edwards specifically, have what it takes to get that turnout to be a significant turnout.
Sharpton: Turnout, dealing with the disaffected, dealing with people that don't think it matters to vote, and dealing with people who don't think that you represent their interests. That's why you're going to have to--and I've said this directly to Sen. Kerry--use some of those who are not traditional, but that are convinced you're sincere. Not only Al Sharpton, but some of the entertainers, some of the people that have minds and a mentality that could influence our community; but they've got to be convinced that what they're doing is real. I'm convinced Kerry is sincere. We've got to be able to communicate that.
Tavis: Let me ask you, to your speech last night, whether or not you think that you gave the right speech? There are a lot of folk Monday morning quarterbacking or, as it were, Thursday morning quarterbacking, saying, 'It's Sharpton. You know, he gave a great speech. Roused the--got the audience roused on their feet,' et cetera, et cetera. But to your point, if there's 10% of the American electorate that is undecided. It's trying to make up its mind. Many people argue that you were playing to the folk who already made up their mind, who know they ain't voting for Bush, and you didn't do anything to help the Party advance with that 10% undecided.
Sharpton: But again, in a football game everybody plays a different--
Tavis: Different role.
Sharpton: I'm talking to the 40% that may have decided, but may be saying, 'I'm not going to come out and vote.' If that 40% is not intact, it doesn't matter if you get the majority of the 10% because you really need 20%, if 10% of the 40% are not coming out to vote. So, I saw my job as galvanizing that part of the 40%, so that they can concentrate on the 10%, because there's nothing I said that turns the 10% off. In fact, some of the 10% is saying, 'Interesting. George Bush said, 'Blacks should not be taken for granted.' I didn't hear anybody answer that.' So, in many ways, I neutralize whatever they try to do with the 10%, while I try to galvanize the 40%. So the 40% is not really 30% when it comes to turnout.
Tavis: I got a minute to go. Let me ask you whether or not--they say hindsight's 20/20 vision, did you enjoy the run? Was the run worth it? Would you have done it again?
Sharpton: It was rough. It was a lot rougher than I thought. I would do it again. At the end of the day, I think, that from bringing the war in first. I was the first one opposed to the war to bring our issues in. It was important that history say, 40 years after Fannie Lou Hamer and 20 years after Rev. Jesse Jackson, that we had no voice, but it was some--I had unexpected rough times, but we brought the ship in the dock, so I'm happy where we ended up.
Tavis: Well, I'm glad you docked on our show today.
Sharpton: Thank you, man.
Tavis: Nice to see you Reverend Al.
Sharpton: All right good to see you.
Tavis: All the best to you.
Sharpton: Love to momma.
Tavis: I'll tell my momma you said hello. You tell, you tell--
Sharpton: I said it myself.
Tavis: And tell Kathy, your wife, I said hello.
Sharpton: I will.
Tavis: Alright. Thank you reverend.
Sharpton: Alright.
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