Al Sharpton Quotes

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Al Sharpton

Profession : Activist

Birth : October 3, 1954

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

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

When we look at the situation in Ferguson, Missouri and the tragic death of Michael Brown, we are reminded of the importance of who we elect to our city councils, who sits on our local board of education committees, who we pick to represent us in Congress, in the Senate and more.

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

I was there during the first elections in South Africa. I watched them take down the apartheid flag and raise the new flag.

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

If you can get the proper definition of trouble, then we can find out who the real troublemakers are.

Al Sharpton

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

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

I always beat the sun up in the morning. It's the secret to why I'm double trouble.

Al Sharpton

We're not willing to give black leaders second chances because, in most cases, we're not willing to give them first chances.

Al Sharpton

We have defeated Jim Crow, but now we have to deal with his son, James Crow Jr., esquire.

Al Sharpton

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

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

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

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

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

I grew up in the 1950s and '60s, when it was almost a holiday when a black act would go on Ed Sullivan.

Al Sharpton

We need an amendment that gives us the right to vote protected by the federal government and the Constitution.

Al Sharpton