Rev. Al Sharpton Tells America Why He’s Still Relevant After Barack Obama’s Election
 Photos by Steed Media Service |
Rev.
Al Sharpton set off a defiant, roof-rattling roar from the crowd at the
10th annual State of the Black Union forum when he enumerated the
reasons he continues to be relevant, although in the shadow of the
election of the first ever African American president, Barack Obama.
State of the Black Union creator Tavis Smiley played devil’s advocate
when asking Sharpton why he was still “employed” as a civil rights
leader. Smiley was facetiously mimicking several newspaper editorials
that say the election of Obama signaled the quick demise of Sharpton
and Rev. Jesse Jackson as legitimate spokespersons of the African
American community. That was all Smiley had to say to get Sharpton’s
signature booming baritone roaring into the dank Los Angeles air.
“So the reason I’m here, Tavis …” Sharpton began before the spacious
hall erupted in anticipatory cheers. “The agenda for civil and human
rights was not just to get some black people into high places. It was
to get equality for all of us. The reason I’m here is that we are still
double unemployment black to white. We are still No. 1 in the nine
worst health diseases in the country. We are still getting an unequal
education 55 years after the Brown v. Board of Education
[Supreme Court decision]. The achievement gap, black to white, is the
same as it was in 1954. The reason I’m still here is that we are still
three times more likely to go to jail for committing the same crime [as
whites] with the same criminal background. We are still more likely to
be turned down for a bank loan. We have the freedom to be president. We
have freedom to be the chair of the [Republican] Party. But we don’t
have equality on the ground. We did not go to jail, we did not march,
and we did not get stabbed and some killed just to get some blacks
through. We did that to get all blacks, all whites, all Latinos, all
Asians, all Native Americans through. So … until we have an equal
playing field, and until a black child, and a white child, and an Asian
child, and a Latino child born today have the same equal protections
under the law and have the same equal opportunities. … They’d better
get used to me and a lot of others, because we’re going to be around
for a long time.”
–terry shropshire
