Rev. Al Sharpton: Time to Turn in your 'Black Civil Rights Leader' Card

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54. you present Affirmative Action as if it was Nixon's invention

Although President Kennedy didn't live to see the passage of the Civil Rights Act, he did manage to accommodate the lobbied demands of Dr. King in both, his Executive Order 10925, introduced in 1961, establishing a 'Committee On Equal Employment Opportunity' (providing for the first time, enforcement of anti-discrimination provisions and introducing the concept of 'affirmative action') ; and in his introduction of the Civil Rights Act to Congress on 19 June 1963. Kennedy's order instructed federal contractors to take “affirmative action to ensure that applicants are treated equally without regard to race, color, religion, sex,

Almost a year after President Kennedy's assassination, Lyndon Johnson pushed the Civil Rights Act through Congress and signed it into law. One of its major provisions was the creation of the 'Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.' The law provided for a defense by the federal government against objectionable private conduct, like discrimination in public accommodations; authorized the Attorney General to file lawsuits to defend access to public facilities and schools, to extend the Commission on Civil Rights, and to outlaw and defend against discrimination in federal programs.

On September 24, 1965, President Johnson originated and signed Executive Order 11246 which established new guidelines for businesses who contracted with the Federal government agencies, and required those with $10,000 or more of business with Uncle Sam to take 'affirmative action' to increase the number of minorities in their workplaces and keep a record of their efforts available on demand. It also set 'goals and timetables' for the realization of those minority positions.

Sure, Nixon added to that history with his own expansions of that original order, just as other presidents like Carter did. That doesn't make him some hero for blacks. In fact, as I stated above, he not only ran away from his civil rights stance, he thoroughly repudiated it in his election campaign; most notably, in fear of a challenge from George Wallace, came out against court-ordered busing meant to further the desegregation of schools.

Yours is a petty and know-nothing view of history which supposes we can make judgments from photo-ops. I think that's supremely ignorant and your defenses of it are as shallow as your op.


In the late 1960s, Al Sharpton 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 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 establish his own organization, the National Youth Movement.
http://www.biography.com/people/al-sharpton-207640#controversy

You don't honor black history or the cause of civil rights by denigrating Rev. Sharpton for a photo op; you belittle it.