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Editor's note: Prior to this past weekend's 26th annual Niagara County Black Achievers Awards banquet, the Rev. Al Sharpton sat down with the Niagara Falls Reporter and select members of the Buffalo media to discuss matters pertaining to Western New York and Niagara Falls in particular.
It's 25 minutes to eight and Renae Kimble looks worried. The only African-American member of the Niagara County Legislature and chairwoman of the county's Black Achievers Awards Banquet, Kimble is waiting for the Rev. Al Sharpton, who is flying in from New York City on a private jet. He was supposed to begin speaking 20 minutes ago, and in the ballroom upstairs, politicians like City Councilman Charles Walker, Judge Robert Restaino, District Attorney Matthew Murphy, Sheriff Tom Beilein, state Sen. Byron Brown and School Superintendent Carmen Granto wait for the star of the show.
I tell Renae that being late is something of a Rev. Al trademark. It does little to comfort her, and she continues to pace the lobby in a shimmering gold beaded dress. Then a stretch limo pulls up in front of the Days Inn Riverview. Sharpton, his wife--the former Kathy Jordan, a Niagara Falls native--and various others in the entourage emerge. They do not explain why they are late and, indeed, nobody asks.
The singular arc of Sharpton's life and career, compellingly detailed in his autobiography, Go and Tell Pharaoh, is remarkable. He began preaching at the age of 4 and was ordained as a Pentecostal minister by the time he was 10. Around that time, his parents divorced, and he met the legendary singer James Brown, whom Sharpton now refers to as the "father I never had."
Sharpton became involved in radical politics during the 1960s and launched a life of activism that continues today. His often-controversial involvements in the Bernhard Goetz, Tawana Brawley and Freddy's Fashion Mart cases--along with his association with Don King and other less than upright citizens--have made him a frequent target of conservative Republicans like Florida Rep. Joe Scarborough, who went so far as to introduce a resolution in Congress formally condemning Sharpton.
On the other hand, his most recent run for Senate, in the 1992 Democratic primary, netted him 170,000 votes. Pundits in New York City are predicting he may announce his candidacy for mayor there and the attention he has brought to important issues of racial discrimination and police brutality cannot be denied.
But for now, Renae leads everyone to the elevator. We skip the second floor, where the banquet is being held, and go instead to a fourth-floor suite. It's question-and-answer time.
Q: Reverend, there have been questions raised about racial profiling in Niagara Falls, Cheektowaga and elsewhere in Western New York. Is this something you might become involved in, and what advice could you give to local leaders on the issue?
A: We have fought all over the country on the issue of racial profiling. It is a national problem. Clearly, in the State of New York, it's a recurring problem. I'm aware of the reports here. I intend to talk to Renae Kimble and some of the other leaders here about the best way that we can be helpful. But I intend to become involved because I think that the modern, or 21st century, version of segregation is racial profiling. For people to be pulled over, for people to be dealt with differently due to the color of their skin, is racism. People can call it any kind of law enforcement strategy they want to. It is racism. And it must be exposed and it must be made illegal. And I certainly intend to be involved in whatever way I can in this local area.
Q. Here in the Falls, Mayor Irene Elia has virtually eliminated the Human Rights office, and there no longer seems to be a mechanism for people to report these incidents.
A: I've been particularly aware of (racial profiling) in Niagara Falls and, again, we'll be talking with some of the leadership. There's also the fact I have family here. My wife's family is here, my brother-in-law's here with me tonight. So it's close to home. You know, it would be very disingenuous of me to fight racial profiling all over the country and not fight it right where my cousins, my in-laws, could be profiled. So I might be visiting my relatives here a lot in the next few weeks to deal with this question of profiling.
Q. Do you feel the Bush Administration can be trusted to do something about the practice of racial profiling on a federal level?
A: No. You can't take them at their word because, first of all, they said there was no racial profiling until about a year ago. When I first started marching on racial profiling, people like (Attorney General) John Ashcroft and (President) George Bush said, "There's Sharpton, making things up." Christy Whitman, right in New Jersey, where we had the cases, said the same thing. Now they've all of a sudden discovered racial profiling. And I'm supposed to believe them, when they denied its existence in the first place? I intend to ride them like the Lone Ranger until we get some real legislation through.
Q. You were recently in Cincinnati--are there any lessons to be learned there?
A: One of the reasons they called me is because I was aware of the litany of cases--there had been 16 killings by police in the last four years. And I, probably more than any of the national civil rights activists, had been there. So I knew why it exploded. It was because people continually kept saying there was a problem. This should be a wake-up call to President Bush and others. There must be something done. If the law is not going to protect people, sometimes people are going to take the law into their own hands. I don't condone it, I don't endorse it, but you can expect that's what happens if people feel like they don't have any way out. You shouldn't blame the weatherman for the weather. If I tell you the storm's coming, don't blame me, get your umbrella out.
Q. There's been a lot of speculation that, with Rev. (Jesse) Jackson maybe putting his head down a little bit in light of his trouble, that you are toning down your own act in order to assume that mantle.
A: I think that all of us grow and learn, but whatever I do, I learned a lot of it from Rev. Jackson. And I don't think Rev. Jackson is finished. I think that there's room for all of us. We had Martin Luther King and Thurgood Marshall, Roy Wilkins and Malcolm X all at the same time. So why can't we have Kweisi Mfume and Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton all at the same time? We don't need any one of anything. I don't know why we need 100 senators and 50 governors, but only one Black leader for all Black folks. We ain't that stupid. Rev. Jackson said he made a mistake, he apologized for it. I think he has had a career where he has shown great compassion for others and I think we should show compassion to him.