Part I: He Came. He Saw. He Inspired?
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Editor’s Note: The Reverend Al Sharpton, who has been touring college campuses as part of a publicized effort of his wish to inspire students to be more involved with Civil Rights and social justice issues, was invited to Hunter March 30. Andrea León was assigned to write a news story about the event. It was eventually discovered that a typical news story with the appropriate amount of Who, What, When, Where & Why, would have been inadequate.
The Reverend Al Sharpton’s publicized tour to inspire college students to become involved with Civil Rights and social justice issues arrived late March on this campus where he delivered a lecture to an audience of students, faculty and visitors that some would have described as a colorful truth and what others might have regarded as the truth colored. I was assigned to cover this event, sponsored by the College’s Office of Student Activities, and write a news story for what I expected would attract a good size turnout because of the Reverend’s prominent visage in the Civil Rights and social justice landscapes as well as his ubiquitous presence in news stories across the country if not around the world.
I wanted several friends to join me that night, March 30, and was startled how my invitations were rebuffed.
“No way. I don’t like that man. What does he have to say about anything,” said one student and friend, reflecting clearly the sentiment of others who had turned down my offer. For example, before the event, I was with a friend at the Student Resource Center on the second floor of the Thomas Hunter Hall. I was holding a flier of the Sharpton event.
“So, you’re coming, right?”
“Oh my God, the man is a racist,” he said, “he hasn’t done any good. Why are you covering him anyway?”
One of his friends, Giovanni Alvarado, 19, a medical lab science major working behind the desk at the SRC that day, overheard what he said and jumped in.
“That man is full of it,” said Alvarado of Puerto Rican descent. “He thinks he can run to Vieques and do something. What good did he do? He doesn’t even care about PR.”
In 2001, the Reverend was jailed for 90 days for protesting against the use of the island by the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps for bombing target practice.
“He didn’t accomplish anything except going to jail,” said Alvarado. “He can’t fight something like that, unethically. Rather than portraying the good qualities of an activist, he makes himself seem obnoxious.”
I told them that they were talking irrationally and that they should attend the event and hear him speak but I couldn’t change their minds. Wherever I went and whomever I approached, for the record or just casually, I listened to negative comments about Sharpton.
The Reverend showed up a few minutes late in the faculty cafeteria on the eighth floor of the West Building. The space had been converted so that it looked like a makeshift amphitheater, so much more than a space where professors dine. I had collected contact information from several members of the audience so that I could speak to them about their feelings and impressions and opinions of the event on a later day.
The Reverend started his lecture saying he was committed to closing the race gap as well as the education gap and that students shouldn’t quietly accept what goes on in the city, meaning, of course, tolerate policies and practices and traditions that negatively effect their communities. It was irrational that the U.S. government was bailing out banks but, yet, Sharpton told the crowd, the same banks loan student money with such high interest costs that it seems that students will be paying off the loans the rest of their lives.
Now, he said that in the fight for social justice, students have to question their friends and talk to their enemies. He believed that advice, which he said was part of his strategy since he became a sincere activist, could help students get what they wanted in their struggles with the Powers That Be. Yet, when asked by a student in the audience what students could do about tuition hikes and CUNY’s budget cuts, the Reverend said, “put the spotlight on what you want.” Well, there have been attempts by students and others to generate publicity to address these issues. Avowed Hunter activists, concerned students, adjunct and full-time professors as well as the PSC activist members – the PSC is the union for faculty and some staff – have organized and participated in rallies.
Hunter has had at least two, including a walkout by student activists in the spring. Many at the Hunter protest-walkout later joined a rally in Borough of Manhattan Community College, which is part of CUNY. And then many from that rally marched to City Hall for a really big demonstration. The news media was at ALL the events. Yet, tuition is going up, adjuncts have been cut and more could be cut more. And students are hustling for jobs. Things are really bleak.
Also, in his response to the student concerned about tuition increases, the Reverend, recalling his personal experiences and in what seemed to be a bigger attempt to get his “spotlight” message across, used an analogy. Roaches, he said, only misbehave in the dark. Turn the light on and they scatter. He also went on to say, “I’m not saying go get arrested for tuition hikes.”
So, what was he trying to say?
The Reverend then went on to speak of how he was arrested in his previous battles for social justice and against racism and how “many issues should be covered” but he did not give an answer as to what students could do about the tuition hikes and budget cuts and the woes created by the city’s failing economy. In the course of his lecture, he said he was a close friend of Governor Paterson and so this question was left lingering in the room: Why hadn’t he questioned the Governor? Why couldn’t he have told the student who raised the tuition issue, I can try to speak to the Governor about his plans for CUNY or, maybe, I can help out your situation.
The Governor is key power player causing behind the tuition increase as well as the slashing of CUNY’s budget. The student who asked the question sat helpless: How were students going to put the spotlight on this. News media were there at all the demonstrations.
It is generally known that a lot of criticism portrays the Reverend as an opportunist, alleging that in his battles for social justice and rallies against racism, he has been too narrow and has only been putting the “spotlight” on race issues and himself. Where do the economic concerns of students fit in his plans for social justice?
“He has only been building the fire on race issues and stirring things up as it occurred with Vieques,” Alvarado had said in an earlier interview.
End, Part I of II