TV One Televises Al Sharpton, Roland Martin Reigniting Black Political Involvement at NAN

TV One Televises Al Sharpton, Roland Martin Reigniting Black Political Involvement at NAN

They say the revolution may not be televised. But the planning stages of it may have been, as TV One provided live coverage of Rev. Al Sharpton’s “Goal-Setting” forum at the close of the National Action Network’s annual convention in New York on Saturday.

Urban America witnessed black leaders address issues important to black Americans — employment, health care, political activism, the prison industrial complex and recidivism rates, and ways to support President Obama and capitalize on the midterm congressional elections.


An august body of black intellectuals, legislators and educators convened at the ornate First Corinthian Baptist Church in the heart of Harlem to devise an agenda to resuscitate energy and passion among the black electorate. Rev. Sharpton was joined by esteemed CNN contributor and TV One’s host of “Washington Watch” Roland Martin and venerated Tom Joyner as co-hosts; as well as Harvard Law professor Charles Ogletree (who ironically taught both President Barack and first lady Michelle Obama, albeit at different times); Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson, legendary rapper Chuck D; 100 Black Men president Milton H. Jones; South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn, BET’s Jeff Johnson; NAACP president Benjamin Todd Jealous; and Congressional Black Caucus Foundation president Elsie Scott, among others.

Sharpton has become the president’s confidante of sorts, instituting plans to expand his Harlem-based organization to 100 cities from the current 42, with about 200,000 members, declaring, “And to really deliver against unemployment that is disproportionate in the black community, and for health care and education reform.”


Sharpton cautioned against political impatience, saying America’s first black president “Has to work both for us and for others.” If Obama were to push a race-based agenda, “… that would only organize the right against him.”

Some black leaders, particularly PBS host Tavis Smiley and several members of the Congressional Black Caucus, have publicly aired their philosophical differences with the president.

terry shropshire

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