Posted on 08/11/2003 7:46:54 AM PDT by presidio9
As he campaigns for the S.C. Democratic presidential primary, the Rev. Al Sharpton is traveling down roads ignored by other candidates, and that's winning him publicity but also riling some black leaders.
In campaign appearances and through his civil rights group, the National Action Network, the Pentecostal preacher has been upstaging the NAACP in debates over how to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day in York County and a fatal shooting in Chester County.
Sharpton has visited the state more than a dozen times since January -- logging two more days in the state than Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, whose campaign calls South Carolina a must-win. Both men stumped in predominantly black areas of the S.C. Lowcountry over the weekend, Sharpton in Santee on Sunday and Edwards in St. Helena on Saturday.
Though the campaign and the civil rights group are officially separate, both are spreading Sharpton's influence through South Carolina, and the lines between the two are sometimes blurry. One campaign co-chairman also heads the Charlotte National Action Network branch and says he hopes to organize 11 chapters for Sharpton in the next five months.
`I don't know Al Sharpton'
Of his S.C. visits, Sharpton has received perhaps the most publicity in York County over the King holiday. During visits, Sharpton has said he personally will fight to see the county close its offices on the King holiday.The holiday is currently an optional day off. Sharpton and his group have called for a boycott of York County if leaders don't agree to change it.
But his presence has antagonized some members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Local NAACP members also want York County to close its offices on the King holiday. But when Sharpton jumped in, it made their efforts harder, they said.
"It would have been wonderful if we could have all worked on the same page," said the Rev. Keith Hunter, past president of the Western York County NAACP branch.
When Sharpton's group called for a boycott, county leaders dug in their heels and resisted talking about a change.
"I don't know Al Sharpton. He's not from York County. He has no interest in York County," said County Council Chairman Mike Short, a Republican. "In my opinion, he's trying to make political gain. We've had this policy in place since 1995, and he hasn't been here before."
Local NAACP leaders scrambled to distance themselves and said they don't support a boycott. County leaders will discuss the King holiday again, possibly this month.
A member of Sharpton's campaign and civil rights group challenged the NAACP again after a white man was charged with killing a black man during a brawl outside a bar in the Chester County town of Great Falls.
Sharpton supporter John Barnett, who heads the National Action Network in Charlotte and works for the campaign in South Carolina, showed up at a forum of black residents in the town 50 miles south of Charlotte.
Barnett told the crowd it appeared no one is leading the black community there and that Sharpton's group could help if the NAACP didn't.
His words surprised one black leader. "I don't think they know enough about the Great Falls branch to be that critical about it," said Thomas Reddick, Great Falls NAACP president.
Sharpton didn't respond to repeated requests for an interview with The Observer.
Shelton Boyd, who works with Barnett in Charlotte, denied accusations they're only interested in local issues because of Sharpton's presidential run. "Even after the presidential campaign is over, the National Action Network goes on," Boyd said.
And Kevin Gray, the campaign's S.C. coordinator, stressed that though Barnett works for the campaign, National Action Network is separate from Sharpton for President.
He added that the campaign doesn't want to alienate the African American voter base. "The campaign isn't looking for controversy," he said.
Black votes will be key in S.C.
South Carolina's first-in-the-South Feb. 3 primary falls after New Hampshire and Iowa and could play a big role in determining who challenges President Bush in 2004. It will be the first in a state with a substantial black population.
Political experts say Sharpton is a long shot for president. But some say he could have an impact on who gets the Democratic nomination if he siphons black voters from one of the other candidates.
More than half the voters in the primary could be African American, and Sharpton has been registering new S.C. voters.
"There's no candidate in this race that can go on the highways and byways of this state and try and encourage new voters like I can," Sharpton told The Associated Press on Sunday. "The more people involved in the process, the better it is for the country."
Even though he lags behind his opponents in fund raising, Sharpton says he's in the race until the end because he draws attention to the needs of minorities.
. "The question is not who's going to lose," Sharpton told a congregation earlier Sunday in Santee. "The question is who gives you the best shot at empowering yourself."
Sharpton said his efforts to register voters can help states win House and Senate seats to help change the pulse of the country.
"If those efforts are successful, we're going to see a whole lot of voters at the polls we've never seen before," said S.C. Rep. Joe Neal, D-Richland.
"(Sharpton's) a great candidate," said Lillie Bates, 58, of Hopkins, who said she would vote for him. "I love all the issues he's working toward."
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