Al Sharpton says America's 250th anniversary is not a 'celebration' for Black people, calls it 'crazy'

Fox News ^ | 4/10/26 | Lindsay Kornick

[Libloather]

MS NOW host Reverend Al Sharpton said the United States' upcoming 250th anniversary is not a "celebration" for Black people and that it's "crazy" to expect them to celebrate it.

"They're going to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the country July 4th, but that's not our celebration," Sharpton said at the National Action Network’s 35th Anniversary National Convention on Wednesday.

He continued, "We were slaves then, and they celebrate signing the Declaration of Independence 1776. We were not even emancipated until 1863. So I don't know what everybody getting ready for a celebration [for]. You know that it seems crazy for me to have on the birthday hat at your birthday party. That ain't my party."

Sharpton suggested that he should hold a separate rally in Philadelphia and expressed concern that young citizens were not aware of Black people's "background" thanks to President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., attempting to remove woke aspects in education.

"When White kids hear us talking about reparations or affirmative action, they think it's an attack because they don't know what their granddaddy did to us," Sharpton said.

Sharpton has been a critic of removing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) from businesses and schools, threatening boycotts against businesses that pulled back DEI initiatives since Trump's second term began.

He also accused DeSantis of trying to "erase Black history" after his administration demanded revisions to an AP African American studies course in 2023.

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who spoke with Sharpton earlier in the convention, also emphasized the importance of remembering the nation's history with slavery, advocating for the formation of a "Department of Reconciliation" to address it.

---

TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans; Religion; Society
KEYWORDS: anniversary; black; blacks; celebration; sharpton

[Libloather]

Don't need Al to celebrate. Never have. I'm waiting for the response from ESPN's Stephen A. Smith.

[PGalt]

Al Sharpton - crazy racist

[sasquatch]

Al, I hope you enjoy 2113.

[T.B. Yoits]

[T.B. Yoits]

“Nothing could be more jolting and discordant with the vision of today’s intellectuals than the fact that it was businessmen, devout religious leaders, and Western imperialists who together destroyed slavery around the world. And if it doesn’t fit their vision, it is the same to them as if it never happened.” - Thomas Sowell

[T.B. Yoits]

“It takes no more research than a trip to almost any public library or college to show the incredibly lopsided coverage of slavery in the United States or in the Western Hemisphere, as compared to the meager writings on even larger number of Africans enslaved in the Islamic countries of the Middle East and North Africa, not to mention the vast numbers of Europeans also enslaved in centuries past in the Islamic world and within Europe itself. At least a million Europeans were enslaved by North African pirates alone from 1500 to 1800, and some European slaves were still being sold on the auction blocks in Egypt, years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed blacks in the United States.” ― Thomas Sowell

[T.B. Yoits]

“What was peculiar about the West was not that it participated in the worldwide evil of slavery, but that it later abolished that evil, not only in Western societies but also in other societies subject to Western control or influence. This was possible only because the anti-slavery movement coincided with an era in which Western power and hegemony were at their zenith, so that it was essentially European imperialism which ended slavery. This idea might seem shocking, not because it does not fit the facts, but because it does not fit the prevailing vision of our time.” ― Thomas Sowell

[daku]

My grand daddy didn’t do anything to you .

[eyeamok]

Maybe its time to round up all the black people in America and ship them back to their homeland in Africa.

[V_TWIN]

Idiots like this are why my tagline is what it is

[ballplayer]

Of course,the poverty pimp and all his cohorts would be out of business

[Belteshazzar]

Al Sharpton, by his choice it seems, just has to be divisive and, yes, racist no matter what it is that he talks about. Consequently, he will not be remembered in history books as anything different than the choices he has made. It is the same with people in any situation, if someone always speaks to you harshly or condescendingly or deceitfully, whatever, that’s how you know them. They have chosen to be remembered by you that way.

[SmokingJoe]

He can always go join his ancestors in the Congo and start eating monkey meat in the African jungle.

[yesthatjallen]

What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?: An Address Delivered in Rochester, New York, on 5 July 1852 by Frederick Douglass

[ryderann]

The racism shtick has become so overdone that it has no power anymore. It just gets people’s back up and has the opposite of the desired effect.

[Vision]

Then GTFO reprobate.

[ryderann]

The racism shtick has become so overdone that it has no power anymore. It just gets people’s back up and has the opposite of the desired effect.

[3RIVRS]

Hey Al, how’s Tawanna?

[Wilderness Conservative]

Yeah right. Everyone knows they would be better off back in Africa eating bugs and getting genocided by their tribal wars, famines, and diseases. Send em back.

[glennaro]

Sharpton has devoted his life to promoting and preserving racism. That's all he knows.
It is his religion.
It is what he preaches.