Daniel Jackson, Gaston Gazette
- The Rev. Al Sharpton told a crowd gathered in Gastonia Tuesday that they should register to vote, then check the rolls to make sure they aren’t turned away on Election Day.
Voters should be willing to make the extra effort necessary to ensure that they and the people they know are not disenfranchised like he says African-American voters were in Florida during the 2000 presidential election.
Poorer people have braved bombs, gunfire, angry mobs and police dogs among other things to cast a ballot and win civil liberties. There is no excuse for any American to miss the opportunity to vote in the upcoming presidential election, he said.
“People ask me if America is ready for a black president. America wasn’t ready for us to sit in the front of the bus. We got America ready,” Sharpton said to resounding applause and cheers from the group at Tabernacle Baptist Church.
