St. Louis Public Radio News
(2004-09-10)
CLEVELAND
(WCPN) -
Reverend Al Sharpton was in town this morning, reasserting his support for his former rival in the presidential race, John Kerry. Sharpton spoke to a crowd of about a hundred attending the Ohio NAACP's annual convention, underway through tomorrow. Part of his speech addressed what he perceives as a decline in African American values - evident especially in the hip hop culture's glorification of crime and thuggery. He said today's kids are lacking in the values that made the civil rights movement possible. On politics, Sharpton said that Bush administration policies are diametrically opposed to African American interests, and that John Kerry has a record that makes him trustworthy, even if he doesn't agree with everything Kerry says. I believe that he will support the interests of all Americans, and I believe that's what we need in the White House. He and I don't agree on everything but we don't disagree on what this country ought to stand for. Sharpton said everything the NAACP stands for is on the line in the November election, and urged the audience to organize like they had never organized before. The NAACP had invited President Bush's secretary of education to speak tomorrow, but that invitation was rescinded. Secretary Rod Paige will speak that Cleveland's Louisa May Alcott elementary school later today.
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