Rev. Al Sharpton's Weekly Blog

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  Prison System

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  Aug 07 2009

  As the battle lines for health care reform are being drawn – and redrawn – a silent segment of the population is strategically left out of the conversation. A group of individuals who have been deemed enemies of society, and cast away behind iron bars to fend for themselves. In California, health care in the […]

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  Attacks on Obama

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  Aug 04 2009

  It’s been just over six months since the first African American President assumed the reigns of leader of the free world, and thus became arguably the most powerful man on earth. Following slavery, centuries of institutional racism, unequal access to education, jobs and the pursuit of prosperity, America voluntarily voted for a Black man to […]

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  Professor Gates

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  Aug 04 2009

  We often teach our children that if you study, go to school, work hard and remain focused, you will be able to transcend the many racial and social boundaries that permeate in society. That if you stay away from drugs, violence and criminal activity, the law will serve and protect you. So what do we […]

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  Shem Walker

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  Jul 24 2009

  It was a quiet Saturday evening in Brooklyn when Shem Walker visited his mother’s home in Clinton Hill. The 49-year-old father of two routinely checked on her, enjoyed the company of his tight-knit family and ensured their safety. Working diligently to keep drug dealers and other dangerous members of society away from his loved ones, […]

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  Health Care

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  Jul 24 2009

  The United States of America is undeniably and unequivocally the most dominant and industrialized nation in the world. It’s no wonder that countless people still flock to our borders with the hopes of attaining further economic opportunities, emboldened livelihoods and an overall advancement of their quality of life.

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  Michael Jackson Tribute

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  Jul 24 2009

  It was the mid-1970s. The nation was fresh off the heels of the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War was finally over and people began adjusting to a newly, fully integrated society.

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  Sheriff Arpaio Must Go

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  Jul 24 2009

  We often hear the phrase, ‘this country was built on the backs of slaves’. Men and women who were stripped of all rights and liberties, and forcibly made to execute the hardest labor around, are undeniably responsible for the construction and subsequent power of the United States of America.

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  Education Rally

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  Jul 24 2009

  It Fifty-five years ago, the nation’s schools were integrated in an unprecedented move to bridge the racial and social divide permeating throughout the country. A landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education forever transformed our school system, means of living and society at large. But 55 years later, students of color continue to lag […]

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  Anti-Violence

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  Jul 24 2009

  During the early hours of May 2, a South Side Chicago family discovered the beaten, abused and burned body of their 15-year-old son who ultimately died from a gunshot wound to the head. A child with no criminal record or gang affiliation who was tormented and threatened by others for months, and eventually chased and […]

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  Judge Sotomayor

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  Jul 24 2009

  The American dream. Throughout the decades, people have parted ways with family and friends to reach the shores of the United States with the hopes and aspirations of attaining better jobs, improved living conditions, a stronger future for their children and possibly, just possibly, a shot at that American dream.