Al Sharpton Quotes

I need to hear something about how he`s going to bring people together in the spirit, hopefully, of Martin Luther King Jr., and if that`s not heard, then we`ve got to constantly challenge him.

This is not just an agreement for the police department, this is an agreement that gets the police department working with the community and the community understanding its role as it continues to work with the police department.

I just released an op-ed in the "Washington Post" that talks about providing an I.D. so that everyone can have an I.D., primarily, the social security card, a picture would be put on that card, and a president can certainly by executive order make this happen so that people will not need a special I.D. They`ll have one to vote.

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.

I always go by instinct and then wrestle with where by instinct brought me.

I`m very cautious and very concerned about what I have initially seen, but I also believe we`ve got to organize like we have never organized before.We talk about it, but realistically, we`ve got to organize at the grassroots level.

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

We cannot move forward or will not move forward if we are divided.

This is not about what party you're part of. This is about right and wrong, ... the conscience of this nation.

What’s wrong with denouncing white interlopers?

We`re going to continue to move forward and fight. I just think that, unfortunately, the president-elect [Donald Trump] has chosen to address every issue.

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

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

Evangelicals catapulted George W. Bush back to the White House.

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

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.

My dad challenged every president from President [Dwight] Eisenhower and Vice President [Richard] Nixon to President [J.F] Kennedy, Vice President [Lindon] Johnson to President Johnson and Vice President [Hubert] Humphrey. It`s challenging the administrations to do the right thing.

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

We've got to look toward two years from now [January 2017] to at least provide some balance in congress.

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.

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.

How do you make things fair?

I think that what we want to do as we continue to move forward is look at the various points that have been made.We`re looking forward to the appointment of a monitor so that we can continue to do some of the things that we`ve been doing.

I think you don't support people based on one or two cases of situations. You deal with their balance over the long run.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

Dr. King used Gandhi's commitment to non-violence and to passive resistance.

People in the age of [President] Obama don't dress like they did in the age of [Lyndon] Johnson. That's for sure.

I`m deeply concerned about Jeff Sessions, who has clearly expressed opposition to the use of consent decrees and has advanced a lot of this states` rights rhetoric.

I can't see how an unarmed man rejecting a drug deal ended up dead.

When the civil rights community raised a lot of concerns around the nomination of Mr. Sessions, Senator Sessions, one of the things was that he`s on record of saying things intrusive, like voting rights,that he doesn`t believe the federal government should interfere with local policing, almost like states` rights kind of rhetoric.

The unfortunate part is there`s not enough balance in the legislative chambers, and particularly the senate that has to do that confirmation for there to be enough pushback.

On Saturday of MLK weekend, just days before the inauguration, thousands of people joined me in the nation`s capital to protect the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The icy rain did not deter us as we reminded Donald Trump and other leaders that we will not be silenced.

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

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.

As I ran for president, I hoped that one child would come out of the ghetto like I did, could look at me walk across the stage with governors and senators and know they didn't have to be a drug dealer, they didn't have to be a hoodlum, they didn't have to be a gangster. They could stand up from a broken home, on welfare, and they could run for president of the United States.

During my 2004 presidential campaign, I was fond of saying that it was high time for the Christian right to meet the right Christians.

People have a right to be nervous and fearful. They heard what Trump said during the campaign and are wondering if he`ll follow through on his promises.

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.

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

Some issues you just - you certainly you have to defend yourself, but you certainly don`t have to denigrate others.

Getting Democrats organized is like herding cats.

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.