The Rev. Al Sharpton may have lost the Democratic nomination for president, but that doesn’t stop him from preaching to a choir of liberal college Democrats.

Sharpton spoke in Goldstein Auditorium in the Schine Student Center yesterday about upcoming political issues for the United States and the need to rid the White House of President George W. Bush.

Sharpton said Bush’s victory in 2000 resulted in tragedy and scandal in the country, adding that although the president was briefed about the terrorist attacks, he didn’t feel that the information was specific enough to inform the FBI.

Bush had an agenda to take care of certain issues in the world, Sharpton said, whether death would be involved or not. In order to take care of these issues, Bush made a false connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda by saying that the United States was in imminent danger before the war began.

Also, Sharpton pointed out that Bush said Osama bin Laden must be captured at all costs, yet two and a half years later nothing has been found.

Once it became clear that there were no weapons in Iraq, the Bush administration started to change their language, Sharpton said. Instead of saying that the United States was in immediate danger, Bush said that there were, instead, plans to build weapons.

Sharpton compared the Bush administration’s excuses to a hypothetical situation where he warned that Goldstein Auditorium was in imminent danger.

‘If I walked into this building and I said we are in imminent danger, get out, and

everyone ran out, and then asked ‘Where is the danger?’ and I said, ‘It doesn’t matter, you needed some fresh air anyway,” Sharpton said.

Sharpton said that the Bush administration took advantage of the American people by using the fears of terror to take advantage of other interests.

‘I hope he knew he was lying,’ Sharpton said. ‘If he was lying and he didn’t know, I’m even more afraid for his re-election.’

In order to distract attention from challenges to the American occupation and reconstruction in Iraq, Sharpton said that Bush brought up domestic issues like same-sex marriage. Instead of talking about the economy and education, Bush wanted to talk about marriage.

Sharpton justified his contributions to the debate of domestic issues, saying that since they were already topics of conversation, he would comment. He said it didn’t hurt one American in the United States.

‘I may or may not agree or disagree with many things. The question is ‘Can I impose my will on others?” Sharpton said.

Sharpton also said that although it seems like the economy is on the rise, it is actually that the wealthiest people are doing better, not the people at the bottom.

‘Are we supposed to be more concerned about Wall Street men and women who went back to billions instead of zillions?’ Sharpton asked.

Along with running for the Democratic nomination for the upcoming presidential election, Sharpton was also a gubernatorial candidate in California this past fall.

He said that although he had no political office experience, he worked for 25 years on the front line with non-profit groups promoting civil rights and civil liberties. In contrast, he pointed out that one of his opponents – current governor Arnold Schwarzenegger – had not been a part of any social movements.

‘We can’t find record on him ever having a serious thought,’ Sharpton said. ‘I never got a stunt man to do my dirty work, I did it all myself.’

The issues that Sharpton was most concerned about were education and health care.

‘We must put money behind public education,’ Sharpton said. ‘We should have the commitment to educate all people, not just some.’

The most important issue to Sharpton was getting Bush out of office.

‘I will probably be the first to disagree with (Sen. John) Kerry once we put him in (office),’ Sharpton said. ‘But we must work with him to get rid of Bush.’

Sharpton challenged students to think about how they could shape the country. He said young people stopped Vietnam and started the civil rights and women’s liberation movements. He said students should have all the fun they can and study as much as possible, but to also put time aside to look at issues of the country.

The audience enjoyed the speech and gave Sharpton a standing ovation when it ended.

‘I have been following him for a while,’ said Mike Vance, a junior psychology and political science major. ‘He’s so charismatic and throws it all out there. Whether it works or not, he is progressive.’

Others in the audience thought that it was important for a black leader to be in this position.

‘He was courageous running for president,’ said Colin Seale, a senior computer science major and the former Student Association president. ‘He is consistent with what the Democratic party believes, and he never backs down from questioning.’

Published on April 12, 2004 at 12:00 pm