I generally don't listen to the Tom Joyner Morning Show anymore, because J. Anthony Brown makes me want to take my radio and smash it upside his head! However, this morning I did turn it on, and discovered that the Rev. Al Sharpton does a Wednesday commentary!!

This morning he was discussing the all-night Senate debate that took place last night on the issue of an Iraq resolution. Below is a transcript of his speech.


REV. AL: Good morning. I'm very happy to see this morning -- I just landed in New York -- that the U. S. Senate Democrats have finally taken an aggressive and dramatic stand with this all-night vigil, at least in terms of language.

TOM: They were talking about the war, and it was the Democrats against the Republicans. And what were they debating?

REV. AL: Well they were debating the withdrawal and a firm date. And, see, I think that the important thing that people should not miss, is that this is the kind of dramatic thing that the Democrats should have been doing all along. Whether you have all of the votes or not, we've got to put front and center how these people will fight with no logic, no justification, just continued engagement that has continued to be proven to be wrong.

And this is why the voters came out in '06 and made the Democrats have a resounding win. And if they are ever going to be relevant and resonate as they should, they must take truth to power.

But I think little ordinary citizens that kept hounding about the war, people need to understand that you're empowered -- you can make a difference with your letters, your emails.

The case that we've all been talking about on the Tom Joyner Show, Genarlow Wilson, we had a march July 5th, there was hearing set for October, it's been moved to the end of this week! So, if people just stand up and do things -- we keep looking for a messiah to come out of the sky, I say it is us, we must organize. That is what they did in the civil rights days. It was ordinary people that went and sat at those lunch counters, ordinary people that marched in Birmingham and Selma.

If ordinary people just say, "I am going to take some time to do something to protect myself" -- because it is we that are going to war, it is we that are being mistreated in the criminal justice system. If ordinary people just say, "I'm going to take a portion of my lifetime, even if it's nothing but a letter and register my voice and vote," ordinary people can even make the U.S. Senate stay up all night long and deal with issues. They didn't do it because they wanted to, they did it because we put the heat on them.

TOM: And so was anything solved?

REV. AL: It was not solved, but the debate is there, the pressure is there. And even some Republicans are beginning to wiggle. And as it gets closer to the election, you will see people fall. Pressure works if you keep it on and it gives. You must have sustained indignation. But people can't react to pressure if the pressure is not there!

So, my encouragement this week to everybody: Call your Senators, call your Congressman. Find something that you can hook into and make and "ordinary people statement" all the time. Don't just live in the world, be part of how the world runs … because it's running you. You might as well participate in how it's going to be ran.

This is Al Sharpton, in New York.



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