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A number of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates are set to speak at Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network conventionas they compete to reach black voters, a critical demographic in the upcoming primary elections. Sharpton's convention has garnered prominent guests in the past, such as President Barack Obama, Sen. Bernie Sanders and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Presidential candidates speaking at the National Action Network convention on Wednesday include former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, businessman Andrew Yang and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julin Castro.

Stacey Abrams, who narrowly lost the gubernatorial race in Georgia last year and is currently mulling a presidential bid, is also speaking Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday, Rep. John Delaney and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg are speaking at the convention.

Friday will see the greatest concentration of 2020 candidates speaking at the event: Gov. John Hickenlooper and Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker will be making remarks. Potential presidential contender Rep. Eric Swalwell will also be speaking on Friday.

Democrats have been working assiduously to court black voters, as winning black support is critical to success in primaries in southern states with large black populations. Sens. Booker, Harris and Sanders in particular have madeSouth Carolina, the second primary state, a key component of their campaign strategies.

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Democratic candidates speak at Al Sharpton's National ...

Al Sharpton is an outspoken and sometimes controversial political activist, working to lead the fight against racial prejudice and injustice. He is also an MSNBC radio/television talk show host for 'PoliticsNation.'

Ordained in the Pentecostal church as a child, Al Sharpton is an outspoken and sometimes controversial political activist in the fight against racial prejudice and injustice. In 1971, he established the National Youth Movement. His many critics and supporters have watched him run for Senate, mayor of New York and as a candidate for president. His dramatic style brings popular and media attention to his causes, and he has hosted his own MSNBC show, PoliticsNation, since 2011.

Al Sharpton

Having known Donald Trump for the past three decades as a native New Yorker, Sharpton has become very critical of the billionaire who became president in 2016. In early November 2017, Sharpton wrote a scathing critique on President Trump for NBCNews.com, saying:

"There were hopes last year that the executive office would temper some of this pettiness, but sadly we now see this is not the case. Rather than attempt to grow and learn, Trump has leaned into his role as divider-in-chief. This is exactly the same racially divisive, unapologetic blowhard I knew in New York."

In January 2018, after Trump's infamous "shole countries" comment, in which he was referring to African countries and the island of Haiti during a discussion on immigration, Sharpton appeared on a New York television news station stating:If youre comfortable in selling racism, then you are in fact that, he said, "You don't have to spray paint the Oval Office in the White House the N-word to be a racist."

Once weighing in at 305 lbs., Sharpton is currently a slim 129 lbs. How did he lose all of that weight?Sharpton went through an over four-year weight loss journey, losing 176 lbs., up until October 2014. Claiming he shed the pounds surgery-free, he attributes his success to a strict discipline of eating less, eating healthy and exercising regularly.

A well-known public figure, Sharpton continues to share his views and to tackle today's issues through his television and radio programs. He has been the host of PoliticsNation since 2011 on MSNBC. He also has his own syndicated radio show, Keepin' It Real.

Sharpton has continued to be involved in direct activist interventions, taking a lead role in organizing protests against the police-related deaths of Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner in New York. Sharpton worked with Garner's family to request his death be investigated as a civil rights violation on a federal level. Sharpton has also been an ally of New York mayor Bill de Blasio, with President Barack Obama also speaking at the National Action Network's annual convention in the spring of 2014.

Nonetheless, Sharpton also continued to deal with controversy, contending with a New York Times story about owing a large sum of taxes (which he declared to be untrue) and distancing himself from NAN litigator Sanford Rubenstein after the attorney was accused of rape.

Social/political activist and religious leader Al Sharpton was born Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. on October 3, 1954, in Brooklyn, New York. Outspoken and sometimes controversial, Sharpton has become a leading figure in the fight against racial prejudice and injustice. He developed his commanding speaking style as a child. A frequent churchgoer, Sharpton became an ordained minister in the Pentecostal church at the age of 10. He often traveled to deliver sermons and once toured with Mahalia Jackson, the famed gospel singer.

Sharpton attended public schools in Queens and Brooklyn.In the late 1960s, he became active in the civil rights movement, joining the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The SCLC had a program called Operation Breadbasket, which sought to encourage diversity in the workplace by applying social and economic pressure on businesses. In 1969, Sharpton, then a high school student, became the youth director for the program. He later participated in protests against the A&P supermarket chain in the early 1970s.

In 1972, Sharpton graduated from Samuel J. Tilden High School. He spent two years at Brooklyn College as a contemporary politics major before dropping out. During this time, Sharpton remained politically active and eventually established his own organization, the National Youth Movement (NYM).

During the 1980s, Sharpton got involved in many high-profile cases in the New York City area that affected the African-American community and led several protests against what he believed were injustices and incidents of racial discrimination. He helped keep media scrutiny on the racially-based murder of a black teenager named Michael Griffith in 1986.

The following year, Sharpton became embroiled in the Tawana Brawley case a case that would haunt him for years. Brawley, an African-American teenager, claimed that she was raped by a group of white men some of whom were allegedly police officers. The case was later dismissed by a grand jury, which reportedly concluded that the teenager had made up the story. But this came after months of media frenzy around the case, largely encouraged by Sharpton. He was even sued by the district attorney working the case for making slanderous remarks. Sharpton was found guilty and fined for his comments.

His reputation damaged, Sharpton faced more charges in 1990. He was tried and acquitted of stealing from the NYM. No matter what problems he encountered, he remained dedicated to his activism, arranging protests and giving press conferences. During one such protest in Brooklyn's Bensonhurst neighborhood in 1991, a man stabbed Sharpton in the chest. Rushed to the hospital, he had surgery to repair the damage and made a full recovery.

In April 2014, the Smoking Gun web site reported that Sharpton had been a paid FBI informant during the 1980s and had been a key player in taking down the Genovese crime family.In defending his work with law enforcement, he said, Rats are usually people that were with other rats. I was not and am not a rat, because I wasnt with the rats. Im a cat. I chased rats.

Sharpton tried again to win public office in the 1990s. He had made one unsuccessful run for for the New York State Assembly in 1978. But this time, Sharpton had his sights on the national political arena, trying for a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1992 and 1994. He also ran for mayor of New York in 1997. In 2004, Sharpton attracted national attention by throwing his hat into the ring to become the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, but he failed to garner enough support to become a contender for the nomination.

To this day, Sharpton remains a political and social activist, with many supporters and critics. He is known for his deft handling of the media, leading some to call him the master of the sound bite. Others are concerned that his flare for the dramatic overshadows the causes he represents or he uses the causes he champions to further his own agenda. Sharpton seems to be pay no heed to his critics and continues to throw his talents behind important causes, cases and events in the African-American community, including the rebuilding of New Orleans after the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

In June 2009, the Reverend Al Sharpton led a memorial for Michael Jackson at Harlem's Apollo Theater. A lifelong friend of the Jackson family, Sharpton said Jackson was a "trailblazer" and a "historic figure" who loved the Apollo Theater.

More recently, Sharpton held rallies in Florida to fight for justice in the Trayvon Martin case. Martin, an unarmed African-American teen, was shot to death in Sanford, Florida, by George Zimmerman, a member of a neighborhood watch group, in February 2012. Zimmerman has claimed self-defense, but others feel that Martin was a victim of racial profiling. Initially the local police did not file any charges, but Zimmerman was eventually tried for second degree murder, though he was found not guilty.

Some had worried that Sharpton's presence in Florida would turn already tense race relations into riots. But Sharpton called for a peaceful approach. "We are not in the business of revenge. We are in the business of justice," he told the press.

Sharpton has two daughters, Dominique and Ashley, from his marriage to Kathy Jordan, with the couple having separated. As of reports surfacing in 2013, he has been seeing stylist Aisha McShaw.

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Al Sharpton Biography - Biography

Al Sharpton and President Trump have been friends since the 1980s. Only in recent years has Sharpton sounded a peep against Trump on charges of being a racist. Now that Trump is a Republican president, all bets are off. Using his MSNBC show, Deadline, he randomly makes the claim of racism against the president. The most recent rant happened over Hollywood producer and writer Spike Lees Oscar award acceptance speech.

Sharpton thinks that Trump is obsessed with race and that makes him a racist. A piece up at Breitbart reports on Sharptons latest anti-Trump rant. He was triggered that President Trump tweeted about Spike Lees speech. Sharpton claims that Lee didnt mention race in his odd rambling speech and it may be true that the man didnt literally say the word race but he sure did make his statement all about race. I watched the show and Sharpton is either deliberately being obtuse or hes just being his usual bombastic self.

You can watch Lee deliver his speech HERE for yourself. His was a strange speech that no doubt he thought was clever. He linked that evenings date with Black History Month and 2019. Then he went about connecting events with his ancestors. Spike Lee is black. He mentioned his slave ancestry. His words were all about race.

Spike Lee: I want to thank Tanya, The word today is irony. The date, the 24th. The month, February, which also happens to be the shortest month of the year. Which also happens to be Black History Month. The year, 2019. The year, 1619. History, herstory. 1619, 2019. 400 years, our ancestors were stolen from Africa and enslaved. They worked the land from morning to night. My grandmothers, who lived 100 years young, a college graduate even though her mother was a slave. My grandmother, who saved 50 years of social security checks to put me through college. She called me Spiky Poo. She put me through film school. NYU! Before the world tonight I give praise to my ancestors who built our country, along with the genocide of our native people. We all connect with ancestors, to regain our humanity. It will be a powerful moment. The 2020 presidential election is around the corner. Lets all mobilize, lets all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Lets do the right thing!

As I said, that speech was rambling and confusing. Lee ended it in a political statement. He wants to mobilize voters, a get out the vote move. While doing so, he makes the choice into one of love versus hate. The implication being that the Democrat candidate will be the love candidate or something. It was silly. But, he got to bring in do the right thing so theres that bit of nostalgia from him. With the low ratings of these awards shows, it is clear that viewers are tired of the politics and just want honorees to say thank you and get off the stage. Thankfully, Spike Lee was one of the few to incorporate politics into the evening.

Al Sharpton is the worst kind of Trump critic. Hes got plenty of his own personal baggage, most spectacularly that of the Twana Brawley story. Sharpton also has a long anti-Semitic history Democrats flock to him anyway to get his blessing as they run for office. Kamala Harris had lunch with Sharpton just a few days ago.

If Spike Lee wants to talk about irony, which lets face it, is dead in 2019, there is the truth that up until Trump ran for president as a Republican he was one of the Hollywood crowd. He was a Democrat donor and even has his own resume of television and movie appearances. Trump received awards from civil rights activists like Jesse Jacksons Push Coalition. And, in 2017 Omarosa spoke up for Trump at Sharptons annual National Action Network luncheon. That was before she turned on Trump and profited off of it. That is what Sharpton and others are doing now. Those who once claimed friendships with Trump and worked with him now disown him.

A friend of mine re-tweeted out a montage of some of Trumps pre-presidential television appearances. Hes been a part of the entertainment world for decades. Take a look. You may have seen some of them throughout the years yourself.

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Al Sharpton now thinks Trump is obsessed with race

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Jul 23

Rev. Al Sharpton is the founder and President of the National Action Network (NAN), a not-for-profit civil rights organization based in Harlem, New York, with over 47 Chapters nationwide. As one of the nations most-renowned civil rights leaders, Rev. Sharpton has been praised by President Barack Obama as the voice of the voiceless and a champion for the downtrodden, and by former President George W. Bush who said that Al cares just as much as I care about making sure every child learns to read, write, add and subtract.

Recently featured on the cover of Newsweek Magazine, the opening sentence in the story echoed what many have said about him even since he was a child prodigy: If the Rev. Al Sharpton didnt exist, he would have to be invented. The Wall Street Journal in a cover story said Rev. Al Sharpton has grown from the premier politician of protest to the ultimate political pragmatist (Wall Street Journal, March 17, 2010), and this year, Rev Al Sharpton was selected to be profiled in a cover story in Ebony Magazine along with 7 others, including President Barack Obama, for the Ebony magazine Power 150 Edition.

In the October 19th, 2009 issue of New York Magazine, Rev. Sharpton was featured as the only African-American listed among the Top 12 Most Powerful People in New York City. A USA Today/Gallup Poll conducted in July 2008 called Rev. Sharpton the leader in the country that Blacks turn to speak for them on the issue of race, second only to then Senator Barack Obama. In February 2007, Rev. Sharpton was called the most prominent civil rights activist in the nation by the New York Daily News.

Whether it was his noteworthy Presidential run as a candidate for the Democratic Party in 2004, or his compelling speech at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts, Reverend Sharpton has had an irrefutable impact on national politics and civil rights because of his strong commitment to equality and progressive politics. In April of 2001, Coretta Scott King hailed him as a voice for the oppressed, a leader who has protested injustice with a passionate and unrelenting commitment to nonviolent action in the spirit and tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. 47-years after the historic March on Washington where her late husband Dr. King delivered his I Have a Dream Speech, Rev. Sharpton and National Action Network recently led 30,000 people in the Reclaim the Dream rally and march.

Rev. Sharpton is a leader on issues regarding education and the fight to ensure equity in the U.S. education system that continues to fail its highest-need students, despite the 55 years that have lapsed since Brown v. Board of Education. President Barack Obama echoed this in his address at the NAACP 100thAnniversary Celebration when he exclaimed the state of our schools is not an African American problem; it is an American problem. Because if Black and Brown children cannot compete, then America cannot compete. And let me say this, if Al Sharpton, Mike Bloomberg, and Newt Gingrich can agree that we need to solve the education problem, then thats something all of America can agree we can solve. Those guys came into my office. Just sitting in the Oval Office I kept on doing a double-take. So thats a sign of progress and it is a sign of the urgency of the education problem. All of us can agree that we need to offer every child in this country every child -(President Barack Obama, July 16, 2009)

Throughout his career, Rev. Al Sharpton has challenged the American political establishment to include all people regardless of race, gender, socio-economic status, or beliefs. In fact, few political figures have been more visible than Rev. Sharpton in the last two decades. Rev. Sharptons oratory skills have served as a platform for making changes in the American social and political establishment. He is a nationally-syndicated radio host, T.V. personality, and columnist. He has four popular radio shows broadcast throughout the country, a nationally syndicated television show, and a column that appears in national newspapers across the country. He held billions of people spellbound as he delivered a riveting memorial for the King of Pop Michael Jacksona close friend to Rev. Sharpton and National Action Network and he gave a heartfelt and memorable eulogy at Michael Jacksons private burial. On two occasions in 2002, Michael came to NANs House of Justice to discuss artists rights and fairness in the entertainment industry.

Born on October 3, 1954 in Brooklyn, New York, Al Sharpton began his ministry at the tender age of four, preaching his first sermon at Washington Temple Church of God & Christ in Brooklyn. Just five years later, the Washington Temple churchs legendary Bishop F.D. Washington licensed Al Sharpton, his protg, to be a Pentecostal minister.

Rev. Sharptons civil rights career began almost as early as his ministry. At thirteen, Revs. Jesse Jackson and William Jones appointed Sharpton youth director of New Yorks SCLC Operation Breadbasket, an organization founded by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1971.

At the age of sixteen, Sharpton founded the National Youth Movement, Inc. which organized young people around the country to push for increased voter registration, cultural awareness, and job training programs. It was at that time that he forged a friendship with Teddy Brown, the son of the Godfather of Soul James Brown. Tragically, Teddy was killed in a car accident and, in the months that followed his passing, James Brown took Reverend Sharpton in as though he was his own and they developed an inexplicable bond. Rev. Sharpton was shaped by his surrogate father Mr. Brown who taught him, You cant set your sights on nothing little; you got to go for the whole hog. Later Rev. Sharpton went on the road with James Brown and served as his tour manager. From 1994 to 1998, Rev. Sharpton served as the Director of the Ministers Division for the National Rainbow Push coalition under Rev. Jackson.

Early in his career, Rev. Sharpton set out to stoke the fire of the civil rights movement as the voice of the downtrodden, leading marches and rallies to call the public and the medias attention to racial injustice. Rev. Sharptons direct action movements have been credited with inspiring laws on racial profiling and he has influenced police department reform across the nation while working to end police misconduct. Recent cases that Rev. Sharpton has been at the forefront of include the Jena Six case, the Sean Bell case, the Omar Edwards case, and the Troy Davis case. Past cases include the cases of Amadou Diallo, Abner Louima and Patrick Dorismond, to name a few.

Rev. Sharpton has also been at the vanguard of issues promoting equal standards and decency. He has held people accountable for perpetrating negative and racist stereotypes. He confronted the NY Post when they chose to print a controversial cartoon with racist undertones. He has called upon the recording industry to have standards for artists that dont include the use of the N, B and H words. Reverend Sharptons integral efforts in getting radio host Don Imus off the air after the shock jock referred to players on the Rutgers womens college basketball team as nappy-headed hos has further proven that Rev. Sharpton is an invaluable leader and his successful efforts to mobilize a broad coalition of prominent public figures urging the removal of Don Imus from the airwaves was nearly universally praised, receiving the support from newspaper editorial boards across the country and presidential candidates Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Barack Obama.

Rev. Sharpton was recently in the forefront of the successful effort to block radio commentator Rush Limbaugh from inclusion in a group of investors striving to buy the Saint Louis Rams due to his history of divisiveness and his penchant for making derogatory comments about players that are anti-NFL and racially charged. In response to his effort to have Mr. Limbaugh sacked, MSNBC television host and political commentator Chris Matthews said of Rev. Sharpton: Im just saying you are a powerful voice in this country. When you speak out, lets face it, the buildings shake. People do listen to you. You had a lot to do with the noise level here.(October 15, 2009).

In the business world Rev. Sharpton has been successful in getting the private sector to engage in billions of dollars in contracts with minority communities. Sharptons stance on behalf of the disenfranchised has taken him, in his own words, from the streets to the suites. In 1999, in a united voice with African -American advertising agencies and marketing and media outlets, he launched the Madison Avenue Initiative (MAI) to ensure that those who do business with advertising outlets around the country deal even-handedly with agencies, media outlets and publications run by people of color. Sharptons work with the MAI has targeted major corporations, including PepsiCo, Colgate-Palmolive, Microsoft, and others, who have subsequently extended their advertising dollars to reach more of African-American and Hispanic communities.

Rev. Sharpton is a champion for human rights and is passionate about the key issues that involve confronting human rights violations. One of his career highlights has been contributing to the end of the United States Navy exercises in Vieques, Puerto Rico, which proved to be poisoning the environment on the island.

Rev. Sharpton says his religious convictions are the basis for his life and on most Sundays he preaches to congregations across the nation. Rev. Sharpton has two daughters from his marriage to Kathy Jordan Sharpton, Dominique and Ashley. Dominique works as the Membership Director for National Action Network and produces NANs weekly live radio broadcast. Ashley currently attends college at Hampton University.

Rev. Sharpton was educated in New York public schools and attended Brooklyn College. He has an honorary degree from A.P. Bible College.

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Rev. Al Sharpton | NAN - National Action Network

The Rev. Al Sharpton, a former White House adviser during Barack Obamas presidency, hit the airwaves and called out Empire actor Jussie Smollett, saying that he shouldface accountability to the maximum should the allegations that Smollett staged a hate crime in January be proved true.

On Sunday, Sharpton, a prominent and vocal civil rights activist, decried Smolletts alleged actions and slammed the actor on his political MSNBC talk show, Politics Nation.

I, among many others when hearing of the report, said that the reports were horrific and that we should come with all that we can come with in law enforcement to find out what happened and the guilty should suffer the maximum, he said.

Sharpton continued on in the segment, saying he still maintained his view and that if Smollett and the others allegedly involved did in some way perpetuate something that is not true that they should face accountability to the maximum.

Sharpton echoed these statements to reporters at a lunch in Harlem with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.)

Whoever is wrong should pay the maximum, Sharpton said. If Smollettis wrong, he ought to face accountability to the maximum.

When asked about the Smollett case, however, Harris the former California attorney general who, in a tweet, had referred to the alleged assault as a modern day lynching outright ignored reporters, insteadopting to rushto her car and giving Sharpton a hug before leaving.

When asked about the tweet at a campaign event on Tuesday, Harris froze and looked to her campaign advisers before saying she thinks that the facts are still unfolding and that she was very concerned about Smolletts initial allegation.

She went on to say:

And its something we should all take seriously whenever anyone, um, alleges that kind of behavior, but there should be an investigation. And I think that once the investigation has concluded then we can all comment, but Im not going to comment until I know the outcome of the investigation.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), another Democratic presidential primary candidate, also backtracked from his initial comments regarding the case in which he called the vicious attack on Smollett a modern-day lynching. Booker said he would withhold further comments until after all the information actually comes out from on-the-record sources.

Smollett, who is black and gay, was arrested Thursday by Chicago police and charged with filing a false police report as well as felony disorderly conduct.

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnsonblasted Smollett on Thursday, saying in a press conference that Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career.

In January, Smollett approached police and alleged that he was assaulted by two men who lobbed racial and anti-gay slurs at the actor while yelling This is MAGA country before pouring bleach on him and tying a noose around his neck.

If found guilty, according to NBC Chicago, Smollett could face up to three years in prison.

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Al Sharpton Calls Out 'Empire' Actor Jussie Smollet Over Claims