Focusing on national issues instead of the New York City civil rights campaigns that forged his controversial reputation, the Rev. Al Sharpton last night seemed to be laying the groundwork for a run at the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004.
Sharpton repeatedly cast himself as a national progressive leader, railing against the Bush administration for selectively targeting people of Arab descent in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and for using the banner of patriotism to cast political dissenters as outsiders.
Much of his speech dealt with national issues that will likely be front and center in the presidential election. Sharpton listed business deregulation and the Enron scandal, Bush's "tax cuts for the rich," campaign finance reform and election reform as key issues that the nation must address.
He also endorsed full public funding of federal elections and full disclosure by Bush about his ties to Enron, and said he supported a more progressive tax system.
Walking a fine line between activist and presidential candidate, Sharpton gave several specific responses about how one would make changes within the system while rarely saying what he would do if elected.
He referred to "my proposed run" for president, and later said "If I run..."
Sharpton alluded to the 2004 election without explicitly asking for votes: "We have an opportunity in the coming election to redefine the reason for voting. Not betting on the winner, but standing for a better America. It's time for us to redefine politics."
After his speech, Sharpton told The Dartmouth that the broad array of issues he addressed in the speech reflect his rising national profile and his presidential ambitions. "The issues I raised I would have raised whether or not I was considering running in 2004," he said.
He also said he would soon be back in New Hampshire, which holds the first presidential primary. Sharpton has formed a presidential exploratory committee headed by Harvard professors Cornel West and Charles Ogletree.
The defining issues of the 2004 election, he predicted, will be "election reform, how we deal with the question of civil liberties and how we deal with the question of big business in the economy."
Students peppered Sharpton with questions after his speech, bringing up past controversies that have long dogged him and could become a powerful distraction in the intense media scrutiny that would accompany a presidential run.
One student asked Sharpton how he could support social justice and still support Tawana Brawley, who as a 15-year-old in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. in 1987 said a gang of white men had raped her.
Sharpton has publicly named Steven Pagones, an assistant district attorney, as one of Brawley's assailants. A grand jury later concluded that her story was a hoax, and after Pagones sued for defamation, a jury ordered Sharpton to pay him $65,000. Sharpton has admitted no wrongdoing.
Sharpton replied "I do not see how supporting someone a jury disagrees with [is] being antithetical to social justice. You may choose not to believe her, but that does not mean that I don't have the right to believe."
A few questions later, a student asked him about his role in a series of protests that left eight people dead. In 1995, Sharpton joined a campaign against a clothing store in Harlem that had tried to expand into space owned by a black. The owner of the store, Freddy's Fashion Mart, was Jewish.
In weekly rallies, Sharpton referred to the store's owner as a "white interloper." Eventually a protester raided the store, shot four people and burned it to the ground, killing eight including himself. Sharpton later apologized for using the word "white."
Sharpton said it was "erroneous" to connect him to the murder. "Clearly he had nothing to do with our campaign of non-violence," he said.
The rest of the questions were split between his views about current events and race matters and actions he would take as president.
Asked if he was running in order to unseat the Rev. Jesse Jackson as the nation's leading civil rights leader, Sharpton sharply replied: "Why would I wait four elections" since Jackson last ran? "Why am I being compared in the media to my mentor? Why don't they compare me to the guys I'll be running against like [Tom] Daschle, or [John] Kerry or whatever the other names are ... it's not good to publicize your opponents' names."
Some student leaders, questioned before last night's speech, said they had doubts about Sharpton, while others said they were strong supporters. "He has been associated with groups of people that have been anti-Semitic," Dartmouth Greens Action Chair Karsten Barde '04 said. "I haven't made up my mind about him. The cause he is promoting is an absolutely essential one."
Sarah Finck '02, president of Dartmouth Hillel, said that while she doesn't know enough about Sharpton to have an opinion, "I know of several Jewish students on this campus that are displeased with his politics."
"He has absolutely inflamed racial tension before," said Jason Spitalnick '02, a past president of Hillel and current member of the group's executive board. "At the same time there are a lot of people who go to him in an effort to ameliorate racial conditions." He added that Hillel is not a political organization and "does not have an opinion on this matter."
But the president of the Dartmouth Afro-American Society, Desmond Nation '02, said the College should be commended for inviting Sharpton to Hanover. "It seems that Dartmouth is making progress in that they're bringing different types of speakers. They're willing to step out of their comfort zone. It's very positive," he said.
The criticism, Nation said, is to be expected. "All leaders are going to be critiqued," he said. "It goes with the territory."