quotations: al sharpton's speech at the dnc, boston
al sharpton brought down the house wednesday, 28 july with a passionate speech to democratic national convention delegates and the world about what's wrong with the bush administration and how senator john kerry will help fulfill america's promise.«this is about living up to the promise of america.»
«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.»
«the promise of america is that every citizen vote is counted and protected, and election schemes do not decide the election.»
«it, to me, is a glaring contradiction that we would fight, and rightfully so, to get the right to vote for the people in the capital of iraq in baghdad, but still don't give the federal right to vote for the people in the capital of the united states, in washington, dc.»
one of many standing ovations went on for a minute after mr sharpton told democratic convention delegates that after the nation failed to deliver on civil war-era promises of «forty acres and mule» to freed slaves, « we never got the forty acres. we didn't get the mule. so we decided we'd ride this donkey as far as it would take us».
«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. our vote was soaked in the blood of martyrs, soaked in the blood of 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.»
«as i ran for president, i hoped that one child would come out of the ghetto like i did, could look at me walk across the stage with governors and senators and know they didn't have to be a drug dealer, they didn't have to be a hoodlum, they didn't have to be a gangster. they could stand up from a broken home, on welfare, and they could run for president of the united states.»
«mr president, we love america, not because all of us have seen the beauty all the time. but we believed if we kept on working, if we kept on marching, if we kept on voting, if we kept on believing, we would make america beautiful for everybody. starting in november, let's make america beautiful again.»
a full transcript of mr sharpton's remarks may be found here.
