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Alfred Charles "Al" Sharpton, Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, television/radio talk show host[1][2] and a trusted White House adviser who, according to 60 Minutes, has "become the president's go-to black leader".[3] In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election. He hosts his own radio talk show, Keepin' It Real,[4] and he makes regular guest appearances on Fox News (such as on The O'Reilly Factor),[5][6][7]CNN, and MSNBC. In 2011, he was named the host of MSNBC's PoliticsNation, a nightly talk show.[8]

Sharpton's supporters praise "his ability and willingness to defy the power structure that is seen as the cause of their suffering"[9] and consider him "a man who is willing to tell it like it is".[9] Former Mayor of New York City Ed Koch, a one-time foe, said that Sharpton deserves the respect he enjoys among Black Americans: "He is willing to go to jail for them, and he is there when they need him."[10] President Barack Obama said that Sharpton is "the voice of the voiceless and a champion for the downtrodden".[11] A 2013 Zogby Analytics poll found that one quarter of African Americans said that Sharpton speaks for them.[12]

His critics describe him as "a political radical who is to blame, in part, for the deterioration of race relations".[13] Sociologist Orlando Patterson has referred to him as a racial arsonist,[14] while liberal columnist Derrick Z. Jackson has called him the black equivalent of Richard Nixon and Pat Robertson.[14] Sharpton sees much of the criticism as a sign of his effectiveness. "In many ways, what they consider criticism is complimenting my job," he said. "An activist's job is to make public civil rights issues until there can be a climate for change."[15]

Sharpton on Brown as a father figure.[15]

Alfred Charles Sharpton, Jr. was born in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, to Ada (ne Richards) and Alfred Charles Sharpton, Sr.[16][17] He preached his first sermon at the age of four and toured with gospel singer Mahalia Jackson.[18]

In 1963 Sharpton's father left his wife to have a relationship with Al Sharpton's half-sister. Ada Sharpton took a job as a maid, but her income was so low that the family qualified for welfare and had to move from middle class Hollis, Queens, to the public housing projects in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn.[19]

Sharpton graduated from Samuel J. Tilden High School in Brooklyn, and attended Brooklyn College, dropping out after two years in 1975.[20] In 1972, he accepted the position of youth director for the presidential campaign of African-American Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.[21] Between the years 1973 and 1980 Sharpton served as James Brown's tour manager.[22]

In 1969, Sharpton was appointed by Jesse Jackson to serve as youth director of the New York City branch of Operation Breadbasket,[22] a group that focused on the promotion of new and better jobs for African Americans.[23]

In 1971 Sharpton founded the National Youth Movement to raise resources for impoverished youth.[24]

Bernhard Goetz shot four African-American men on a New York City Subway 2 train in Manhattan on December 22, 1984, when they approached him and allegedly tried to rob him. At his trial Goetz was cleared of all charges except for carrying an unlicensed firearm. Sharpton led several marches protesting what he saw as the weak prosecution of the case.[25]

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Al Sharpton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia