Rev. Al Sharpton: MSNBC’s New Host, Will It Open Doors for Women of Color?

Congratulations are in order for Rev. Al Sharpton for snagging the 6 p.m. slot on MSNBC as the host of the new show “Politics Nation.” Sharpton tells Reuters that this position is “a natural fit for what I’m doing. I clearly understand that in the 21st century of policy America, you’ve got to deal with talk TV and talk radio. The tea party didn’t come out of anywhere. If it weren’t for Fox TV and Fox radio, the right wing would not have had traction. I knew the battleground would not just be on the streets but the studio as well. It worked for where I felt the movement had to go in the 21st century.”

Sharpton has had a decade-long with relationship with MSNBC’s president Phil Griffin, who served as a panelist at this year’s National Action Network 20th Anniversary Conference. With the upcoming presidential election, the season is ripe for Sharpton’s intellect, activism and influence to be included in the media debate.

We must take note that Sharpton is now the only black host in prime time cable news, but he’s not the first. Max Robinson broke the color barrier in the late ’70s, early ’80s, when he was tapped by ABC to join the network’s evening newscast.

The next question that has to be raised is will this new platform for Sharpton make room for women of color behind the national news desk? Since Carole Simpson was “ousted” from her senior-ranking television news position after a 25-year career in television, black women remain a rarity and have become invisible, or even instinct, after noon. Simpson’s career high-point was moderating the second 1992 presidential debate between Bill Clinton, Ross Perot and George Bush Sr.

We have Rachel Maddow, an anchor with the eponymous show that airs nightly on MSNBC at 9 p.m., who gives women a face and a voice. This writer has a deep liking for this remarkable and intelligent journalist. With all due respect, she’s a graduate of both Stanford University and Oxford University, her experiences and perspectives are quite different than an HBCU graduate born and reared in the Mississippi Delta and grew up without electricity or running water or a young Hispanic woman who has had to dodge bullets while walking home in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood.

We surely don’t want to overlook Soledad O’Brien’s strides with the “… In America” specials.

Keep in mind, this is not a b***** session or an opportunity to rant.

It’s simply time for the network’s men-only locker room to go co-ed. When we are silent, we tend to be overlooked and ignored. Affirmative Action seems like such a dated concept, but unfortunately racial and sexual prejudice aren’t. So where do we turn? What will it take for us to get our stilettos in the door and once we are there, who will ensure that we have the support and mentoring to be successful?

But I digress.

Sharpton will be making a trip to Washington, D.C., this weekend for the celebration and dedication of the M.L. King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall. He will be leading a march for jobs and justice on Saturday, August 27, 2011. (this event is postponed)

One who hasn’t forgotten his true calling, Sharpton shares, “There are relatively few moments in our lives that make history. The weekend of August 27th and 28th will be one for the history books… We are living in perhaps one of the most unpredictable and capricious times in our nation’s history and while people of color and the traditionally marginalized are making enormous strides with access to places never even imaginable before, the working class and poor are still under attack in extraordinary and systematic ways. When the disenfranchised are further removed from the mainstream, the class divide between the haves and have nots naturally increases. For those who may be quick to forget the legacy of Dr. King, let us remember that he died while fighting for workers’ rights and the basic human dignity of all.” 

NAN may be a good place for us to start campaigning for our place behind the evening news desks. –yvette caslin