I would guess you are a 'youngster' (from my point of view) and you don't remember when the 'law' changed. By that I mean tax laws.
It used to be that churches of whatever denomination were considered tax free.
Then they started making all these loopholes to benefit the minority classes.
I.E. all you had to do was declare yourself a 'reverend' and give a mailing address and 'boom' you were tax free.
BOOM... Sharpton, Jackson, and hundreds of others declared themselves 'reverends'.
Once you 'declared' then you had to have a 'cause' or 'ministry'.
Jackson and Sharpton simply adopted the cause or racism, mainly because it was the EASIEST.
Thanks for the explanation. Have they ever preached a sermon to a congregation in their entire life?