Full text of Al Sharpton’s DNC speech
We are also faced with the prospect, in the next four years, that two or more of the Supreme Court Justice seats will become available. This year, as we celebrated the anniversary of Brown vs. the Board of Education, this court voted 5 to 4 on critical issues of women’s rights and civil rights. It is frightening to think that the gains of the civil and women’s rights movements of the last century could be reversed if this administration sits in the White House for four more years.
This is not about a party. It is about living up to the promise of America.
For the past 30 years, African-Americans have given at least 80 percent of their vote – 90 percent in 2000 – to the Democratic nominee for president. The more the GOP has veered to the right, the less successful it has been in appealing to Black voters. Bush was elected with 8 percent of the African-American vote in 2000, the lowest percentage since the 1964 campaign of Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater.