Post by Bornthrilla on Sept 29, 2008 13:49:38 GMT -5
Sharpton speaks to A&T students at voting rally
Monday, September 29
(updated 1:50 pm)
By Jeff Mills
Staff Writer
GREENSBORO — The Rev. Al Sharpton spoke to a few hundred people Monday morning in the Stallings Ballroom at the N.C. A&T Memorial Student Union, urging students to register to vote.
Sharpton, a civil rights activist who ran for president in 2004, made the stop as part of his National Action Network's bus tour to rally voters in key swing states. He criticized the last two presidential elections, citing voting controversies in Florida and Ohio, and told students they could make a difference this year.
"This isn't about Barack Obama. This is not about John McCain. This is about you and the life you want to live," Sharpton said.
Sharpton referred to the Greensboro Four, the A&T freshmen who in 1960 took seats at the whites-only lunch counter at Woolworth's in downtown Greensboro. He told students they could make a difference, too -- in the voting booth.
"What will they say 40 years from now about you?" Sharpton said. "Will they say you made a difference? Or will they say your were too busy doing nothing to take five minutes to do something? You're going to be in the history books either way."
Sharpton said the nationwide bus tour has two purposes: to register new voters, and to check the names on the lists of registered voters to make sure they're in the right districts.
"We want to make sure we don't have the same problems in 2008 as we had in 2004 and 2000," Sharpton said.
Monday, September 29
(updated 1:50 pm)
By Jeff Mills
Staff Writer
GREENSBORO — The Rev. Al Sharpton spoke to a few hundred people Monday morning in the Stallings Ballroom at the N.C. A&T Memorial Student Union, urging students to register to vote.
Sharpton, a civil rights activist who ran for president in 2004, made the stop as part of his National Action Network's bus tour to rally voters in key swing states. He criticized the last two presidential elections, citing voting controversies in Florida and Ohio, and told students they could make a difference this year.
"This isn't about Barack Obama. This is not about John McCain. This is about you and the life you want to live," Sharpton said.
Sharpton referred to the Greensboro Four, the A&T freshmen who in 1960 took seats at the whites-only lunch counter at Woolworth's in downtown Greensboro. He told students they could make a difference, too -- in the voting booth.
"What will they say 40 years from now about you?" Sharpton said. "Will they say you made a difference? Or will they say your were too busy doing nothing to take five minutes to do something? You're going to be in the history books either way."
Sharpton said the nationwide bus tour has two purposes: to register new voters, and to check the names on the lists of registered voters to make sure they're in the right districts.
"We want to make sure we don't have the same problems in 2008 as we had in 2004 and 2000," Sharpton said.
