Al Sharpton Quotes

If you remove Al Sharpton's blackness, he disappears. He's transparent. There's nothing there because he bases his whole life on his blackness. Me, I'm a black man; but my blackness has submission to my Christianity. ~ Ken Hutcherson

While the rest of the country waves the flag of Americana, we understand we are not part of that. We don't owe America anything - America owes us. ~ Al Sharpton

We blacks had problems in the '60s and we solved them by marching. We've still got problems - let's march. ~ Al Sharpton

As I stood and gave the eulogy for young Michael Brown last week, I kept thinking about the fact that this child should have been in college instead of laying in a coffin. ~ Al Sharpton

I can call a march, and thousands come out, and I happen to have access to the White House at the same time. ~ Al Sharpton

I am an American, proud to be an American, proud to be a black American. I'm not African-American. I've never been to Africa. I'm an American that is black and my　– and I'm proud to be a black that submits to my Christianity. I am proud to be just a man. I mean a man's man, not a metro sexual, not one that gets his nails done. I mean a man that used to get out there and knock heads and get his fingernails dirty. I'm proud of being a man, but my manhood submits to my Christianity, but I don't see that in Al Sharpton. Any time anything happens that attacks his blackness, he fears it and　– because he has nothing else to stand on. Thus, when the real civil rights movement of everyone steps up, when we're saying the Tea Party, don't take being discriminated against. If a black person was kicked out of a hotel for being black down in Florida, it would be an uproar, but since the Tea Party was kicked out because of their political views, that's going against America. That's why we're here going against the Constitution, with certain unalienable rights. That is the true fight we must start and we must fight today like never before. ~ Ken Hutcherson

White folks was in the caves while we [blacks] was building empires ... We built pyramids before Donald Trump ever knew what architecture was ... we taught philosophy and astrology and mathematics before Socrates and them Greek homos ever got around to it. ~ Al Sharpton

As I often say, we have come a long way from the days of slavery, but in 2014, discrimination and inequality still saturate our society in modern ways. Though racism may be less blatant now in many cases, its existence is undeniable. ~ Al Sharpton

The promise of America is one immigration policy for all who seek to enter our shores, whether they come from Mexico, Haiti or Canada, there must be one set of rules for everybody. We cannot welcome those to come and then try and act as though any culture will not be respected or treated inferior. We cannot look at the Latino community and preach 'one language.' No one gave them an English test before they sent them to Iraq to fight for America. ~ Al Sharpton

I think drugs affect poor people and people of color more than anyone. ~ Al Sharpton

The boxing world is full of all kinds of corruption. ~ Al Sharpton

What's wrong with denouncing white interlopers? ~ Al Sharpton

Everything from who sits on your local board of education to the prosecutors and judicial appointments in your area and much more are all impacted by who holds political office. ~ Al Sharpton

In 1999, I was in St. Louis with Martin Luther King III as we led protests against the state's failure to hire minority contractors for highway construction projects. We went at dawn on a summer day with over a thousand people and performed acts of civil disobedience. ~ Al Sharpton

We have not always agreed, but I have said repeatedly and publicly many times that Al Sharpton has never counseled violence, but he gets blamed for a whole lot of that. ~ David Dinkins

So (if) some cracker come and tell you 'Well, my mother and father blood go back to the Mayflower,' you better hold your pocket. That ain't nothing to be proud of. That means their forefathers was crooks. ~ Al Sharpton

If you play the theatrics too much, you get in the way of your own cause. ~ Al Sharpton

Local prosecutors work alongside local police officers on a regular basis and are therefore conflicted when it comes to prosecuting those same officers. They are under extreme pressure from local police unions and from rank-and-file cops. ~ Al Sharpton

In Ferguson, there are witnesses who say Brown had his hands up when he was shot. That should be enough probable cause to go to trial to then determine if Officer Wilson is guilty or not. It is at trial that he can then defend himself and his attorneys can present their own witnesses and their own defense. ~ Al Sharpton

President Obama telling Americans not to panic in the wake of the Paris terror attacks. ~ Al Sharpton

I could take all the cartoons in the tabloid newspapers, but I couldn't take my daughter punching me in the belly and asking why I was so fat. That was my inspiration to lose the weight. And probably the last time anyone hurt my feelings. ~ Al Sharpton

America can't work for only some people and become a dream for all people. It has to work for everyone. And even though everyone might not end up at the same place, if everyone starts with the same beginning, then that's the dream fulfilled. We all don't have the same abilities, but we should have the same opportunities. ~ Al Sharpton

I would be psyched to get a phone call from Al Sharpton. I need to find out who does his hair. It's beautiful. It's a gorgeous mane. ~ Nick Kroll

I disagree with Muhammad. I'm against hate, anti-Semitism and homophobia. ... This is not a village of hate. It's a village of hope. ... Don't let midgets give us a bad name. There are still giants in Harlem giants who will stand up for our children. ~ Al Sharpton

My ministry's always been one of social activism. I think a responsible minister must be at some levels involved in the social order. ~ Al Sharpton

In New York, you are competing with Times Square lights and all of that, so you've got to be 300 pounds and crazy to get anyone's attention. Then, you can refine yourself. I always knew under those 300 pounds and tracksuits was a refined, slim, dignified man. ~ Al Sharpton

Demonstrations must be dignified and nonviolent, as the overwhelming protests in Ferguson and Staten Island have been. Do not confuse anarchists who don't want the system to work and thugs who want to exploit a situation with the majority who from day one have operated with impeccable nonviolence and clear goals. ~ Al Sharpton

I think that any time you look at the fact that boycotts have historically led to change, whatever temporary inconvenience there may be, it in the long run leads toward, in my opinion, a better change for everybody. ~ Al Sharpton

If only Al Sharpton were around, Lincoln would have known he was a victim of racism. ~ Ann Coulter

I've seen enough things to know that if you just keep on going, if you turn the corner, the sun will be shining. ~ Al Sharpton

I've gone from, you know, being too close to politicians, to being too close to entertainers, and people's father that I'm not. ~ Al Sharpton

I'm a patriot in the truest sense of the word. ~ Al Sharpton

It seems some have chosen to ignore or have simply forgotten the big-picture vision promoted by Dr. King and his kin. ~ Al Sharpton

I don't think Dr. King helped racial harmony, I think he helped racial justice. What I profess to do is help the oppressed and if I cause a load of discomfort in the white community and the black community, that in my opinion means I'm being effective, because I'm not trying to make them comfortable. The job of an activist is to make people tense and cause social change. ~ Al Sharpton

I actually lost more weight than I am! ~ Al Sharpton

When you're dealing with boycotts, you don't need everyone. You just need enough to be effective. ~ Al Sharpton

It is time to bring down the volume and bring up the program. ~ Al Sharpton

If Charlton Heston can have a constitutional right carry a rifle, why can't grandma have a constitutional right to health care? ~ Al Sharpton

I very rarely read any fiction. I love biographies; I read about all kinds of people. I love theology and some philosophy. ~ Al Sharpton

I've learned how to measure what I say. Al Sharpton in 1986 was trying to be heard. I was a local guy and was like, 'Y'all are ignoring us.' ~ Al Sharpton

There are white n*ggers. I've seen a lot of white n*ggers in my time. ~ Al Sharpton

There's no reason why children in inner cities or rural areas do not receive the same quality education or opportunities as those in suburbs or wealthy neighborhoods. If we truly believe in giving all citizens a chance to pursue happiness and pursue their goals, then we cannot continue to marginalize entire groups of people. ~ Al Sharpton

But we believed if we kept on working, if we kept on marching, if we kept on voting, if we kept on believing, we would make America beautiful for everybody. ~ Al Sharpton

Either we need to redefine what probable cause means and say that police are not subject to it, or we arrest officers right away just as we would with any other person accused of committing a crime. Either we write new laws or enforce existing ones; we cannot have it both ways. ~ Al Sharpton

We cannot reform institutional racism or systemic policies if we are not actively engaged. It's not enough to simply complain about injustice; the only way to prevent future injustice is to create the society we would like to see, one where we are all equal under the law. ~ Al Sharpton

We are engaged in immediate conversations with the White House on deliberations over a successor whom we hope will continue in the general direction of Attorney General Holder. ~ Al Sharpton

I've never done anything else in my life other than preach and be an activist. Way before I was known. ~ Al Sharpton

The United States isn't a dictatorship ruling with a brutal army and an iron fist, so our police departments must understand that they are there to serve and protect us - all of us. And when they do commit crimes, they must be arrested and prosecuted like anyone else, bottom line. ~ Al Sharpton

Who defines terrorists? Today's terrorist is tomorrow's friend. ~ Al Sharpton

I believed there was enough evidence to go to trial. Grand jury said there wasn't. Okay, fine. Do I have a right to disagree with the grand jury? Many Americans believe O.J. Simpson was guilty. A jury said he wasn't. So I have as much right to question a jury as they do. Does it make somebody a racist? No! They just disagreed with the jury. So did I. ~ Al Sharpton

I was the first candidate to come out against this war, spoke at every anti-war march. ~ Al Sharpton

If companies can refuse to provide coverage for women, what other objections to the Affordable Care Act will we see based on 'religious grounds'? For that matter, will 'religious freedom' be used as an excuse to discriminate against other minorities and disenfranchised groups across the board? Where will it end? ~ Al Sharpton

Like myself, President Obama is the father of two daughters. He understands the obstacles that they face as women, but he also understands the emergency of the state of young black men in America. ~ Al Sharpton

I knew from the age of four that I wanted to preach. I didn't even consider it strange that grown people were listening to this kid preaching until I was around thirteen. I have never believed in limitations. ~ Al Sharpton

If Barack Obama now, or some black person in the future, should become president, neither Jesse Jackson nor Al Sharpton would be out of a job. A black president can't end black misery; a black president can't be a civil rights leader or primarily a crusader for racial justice. ~ Michael Eric Dyson

But resist we much. We must, and we will much- about that- be committed. ~ Al Sharpton

I was raised by a single mother who made a way for me. She used to scrub floors as a domestic worker, put a cleaning rag in her pocketbook and ride the subways in Brooklyn so I would have food on the table. But she taught me as I walked her to the subway that life is about not where you start, but where you're going. That's family values. ~ Al Sharpton

I haven't done the things I've done to be in a sitcom. ~ Al Sharpton

How do you make things fair? ~ Al Sharpton

Crime is going down everywhere but in the New York City Police Department. ~ Al Sharpton

Throughout my years championing for civil rights, analyzing politics and advocating on behalf of the voiceless, I am disturbed the most when harmless children suffer because of politics or detrimental policies. ~ Al Sharpton

When people discuss the 1960s and the great Civil Rights Era, they often speak in romantic terms as if there wasn't immense work put in, and as if there wasn't immense sacrifice that took place. But none of those battles were easily fought and won; there were sustained movements behind them. ~ Al Sharpton

In Staten Island, when you have video showing the alleged chokehold used on Eric Garner, why not go to trial and have the officer(s) explain the tape, and then this jury can determine guilt or innocence? The tape should guarantee that there should be a trial. ~ Al Sharpton

The United States government has the obligation to educate all young people in this country. ~ Al Sharpton

If I use the media, even with tricks, to publicize a black youth being shot in the back in Teaneck, New Jersey ... then I should be praised for it, and it's more of a comment on them than me that it would take tricks to make them cover the loss of life. ~ Al Sharpton

I've never seen an effective boycott that didn't work. ~ Al Sharpton

If O.J. had been accused of killing his black wife, you would not have seen the same passion stirred up. ~ Al Sharpton

We need to make some real fundamental change from the Constitution down in this country. ~ Al Sharpton

From racial profiling and being pulled over just for 'driving while black' to this new phenomenon of killing unarmed people out of some preconceived idea of fear, our lives and our children's lives are not being valued. ~ Al Sharpton

I won vice president of my student body in high school. That doesn't mean anything. ~ Al Sharpton

You can't get a solution if you won't talk to the people that have the problem. You can't ever have healing if the patient is left out of the operation room. ~ Al Sharpton

I feel that it is our moral obligation to stand and to be courageous with these families, and particularly Cindy, that have become the conscience of this nation. ~ Al Sharpton

The right wing always mobilizes around constitutional amendments: the right to bear arms, school prayer. ~ Al Sharpton

As a Baptist minister, I don't have the right to impose my views on anyone else. If committed gay and lesbian couples want to marry, that is their business; none of us should stand in their way ~ Al Sharpton

My message to everyone: the next time you hear about migrant children near the border, just picture them as your own. Then think what you would want our government to do. ~ Al Sharpton

The horrific cases in Ferguson, in Staten Island with the death of Eric Garner, and all across the country serve as stark reminders that we must have a say in who polices us, and how that policing is done. We must, we must, let our voices be heard on Election Day. ~ Al Sharpton

Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right. ~ John McCain

I cannot imagine where we would have been without BET. Many like me who operate in black America can only get our balanced story told nationally on BET talk shows. ~ Al Sharpton

My ordination in the Church of God in Christ was at age 9, and I later became a Baptist minister, which I am today. ~ Al Sharpton

It was better walk with dignity than ride in shame. A lot of people in Cincinnati are saying, "Rather than have the continual problems of police brutality and economic disparity, I'm willing to make some sacrifices." And I think that they ought to be respected for doing that. ~ Al Sharpton

The resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder is met with both pride and disappointment by the Civil Rights community. We are proud that he has been the best Attorney General on Civil Rights in U.S. history and disappointed because he leaves at a critical time when we need his continued diligence most. ~ Al Sharpton

Al Sharpton chases the spotlight the way Obama chases golf balls ~ Greg Gutfeld

Bill Clinton strikes me as the kind of guy who goes wherever the polls lead him, rather than leading the polls. ~ Al Sharpton

As a preacher who has spent significant time in churches and houses of worship all across the country, I can tell you firsthand that religious liberty and freedom are principles that can never be infringed upon. ~ Al Sharpton

The Democratic Party hasn't whipped anybody into a frenzy. The assumption is that the people that are marching and protesting and standing up against this don't have enough sense to stand up for their own interests. ~ Al Sharpton

I'm projected as an ambulance chaser, but I'm more the ambulance. People call me because they know I will come ... I have never fought a case where they didn't ask me to come. People have
this picture like I'm sitting up in bed at night with a walkie-talkie. "You hear anything? Oh, let's run! It's Virginia today!" ... Every victim calls us ... "Who put Sharpton in charge?" The
victim! ~ Al Sharpton

I wanted to say to Governor Dean, don't be hard on yourself about hooting and hollering. If I had spent the money you did and got 18 percent, I'd still be in Iowa hooting and hollering. ~ Al Sharpton

I've seen too much in life to give up. ~ Al Sharpton

You don't need any indictment in order to arrest someone; probable cause is sufficient to arrest civilians, so it must be enough to arrest police. ~ Al Sharpton

Evangelicals catapulted George W. Bush back to the White House. ~ Al Sharpton

Better to die of something than to die in old age of nothing. ~ Al Sharpton

National Action Network, the group I founded, has affiliates or chapters in over 40 cities around the country. ~ Al Sharpton

Let me be clear: as I have said repeatedly, I do not believe that all police officers are bad, nor do I believe that most are bad. But there must be a transparent, impartial and fair system to judge those that engage in criminal or unethical acts. ~ Al Sharpton

Following Michael Brown's death, I went to Ferguson and met with his parents. I stood with them as they tried to hold their heads high and deal with both their immense loss and the larger issues of police-community relations. ~ Al Sharpton

They tried to say that being gay is a sin, and I said that adultery is a sin. Adultery is responsible for breaking up more marriages, but do we put that in the Constitution? It's absurd. ~ Al Sharpton

It is up to us to change laws on the books like 'Stand Your Ground' laws and push elected officials to enact regulations that hold police officers to the same standards as the rest of society. This is why we vote. ~ Al Sharpton

In order to establish peace, you must have fair justice for everyone. ~ Al Sharpton

Don't talk to us like we ignint! ~ Al Sharpton

James Brown became my father. He would talk to me the way a father talked to a son. He became the father I never had. ~ Al Sharpton

I could have easily been a statistic. Growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., it was easy - a little too easy - to get into trouble. Surrounded by poor schools, lack of resources, high unemployment rates, poverty, gangs and more, I watched as many of my peers fell victim to a vicious cycle of diminished opportunities and imprisonment. ~ Al Sharpton