Al Sharpton Quotes

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

We're not anti-police... we're anti-police brutality.

The dream was not to put one black family in the White House, the dream was to make everything equal in everybody's house.

It is true that Mr. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, after which there was a commitment to give 40 acres and a mule. That's where the argument, to this day, of reparations starts. We never got the 40 acres. We went all the way to Herbert Hoover, and we never got the 40 acres. We didn't get the mule. So we decided we'd ride this donkey as far as it would take us.

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

I do believe that the party has a bunch of elephants running around in donkey clothes.

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

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.

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.

I've never seen a prosecutor hold a press conference to discredit the victim.

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

If Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house.

Life is about not where you start, but where you're going. That's family values.

But resist we much. We must and we will much about that be committed.

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.

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

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

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.

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

America has to make America become a better place for all Americans, and that`s all of us participating.

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

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.

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

I am in hell already. I am in Israel.

What’s wrong with denouncing white interlopers?

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

Senator [Jeff] Sessions says people, cities sign these decrees because they don`t want to be sued by the justice department, as if he is, in some ways, questioning whether the things that are in these decrees are necessary and warranted.

We may switch presidents, but we`re just going to switch legs and keep on marching.

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

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

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.

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

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

Dr. King's general principles are universal. But the things he confronted took place in another era.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Better to die of something than to die in old age of nothing.

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

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

Let me just say that we are under the consent decree. There are people in our city [Baltimore] along with the police department and advocates who believe that this is absolutely the right thing to do.

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.

We won`t back down! We won`t be trumped!