Sharpton didn’t get much coverage, except to say that he departed from his
script and roused the crowd. His prepared speech is worth reading, but his departures are also important. mjh
Full text of Al Sharpton’s
[scripted] DNC speech Rocky Mountain News: Election
Tonight, we stand with those freedoms at risk and our security as citizens in
question. I have come here tonight to say, that the only choice we have to protect and preserve our freedoms at this point in history
is the election of John Kerry as the president of the United States.
I stood with both John Kerry and John Edwards on over 30
occasions during the primary season. I debated them. I watched them. I observed their deeds. I am convinced that they are men who say
what they mean and mean what they say.
I am also convinced that at a time, when there is a vicious spirit in the body politic of
this country that attempts to undermine America’s freedoms — our civil rights, and civil liberties — we must leave this city and go
forth and organize this nation toward victory for John Kerry and John Edwards in November. This is not just about winning an election,
it’s about preserving the principles upon which this nation was founded. …
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.
Ex-Kerry rivals rouse the crowd By Marc Humbert,
The Associated Press
[In his unscripted remarks, he] repeatedly slammed the Republican administration.
”Mr. President, the
reason we are fighting so hard, the reason we took Florida so seriously, is our right to vote wasn’t gained because of our age,”
Sharpton said. ”Our vote was soaked in the blood of martyrs, soaked in the blood of (civil rights activists) Goodman, Chaney and
Schwerner, soaked in the blood of four little girls in Birmingham. This vote is sacred to us. This vote can’t be bargained away. This
vote can’t be given away.
”In all due respect, Mr. President, read my lips: Our vote is not for sale.”
He drew one of the
biggest responses when he said: ”The issue of government is not to determine who may sleep together in the bedroom, it’s to help
those that might not be eating in the kitchen.”
BET.com – Sharpton’s Long Speech Left Them Jumping for Joy
and Wanting More
”Mr. President, you said would we have more leverage if both parties got our votes, but we didn’t come this
far playing political games,” Sharp said, referring to Bush’s recent remarks to African Americans at the National Urban League.
”It was those that earned our vote that got our vote. We got the Civil Rights Act under a Democrat. We got the Voting Rights Act
under a Democrat. We got the right to organize under Democrats.”
Atlanta Daily World
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.
