Mount Vernon, NY — Civil rights icons Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson allowed me to speak with them Sunday, April 13th, after a powerful Palm Sunday church service at Grace Baptist Church located at One Grace Plaza, 52 South Sixth Avenue in Mount Vernon. Parishioners, community members, and elected officials, including U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins, Mount Vernon Mayor Shawn Patterson-Howard, gathered from all over to celebrate National Action Network (NAN) Board Chairman, Rev. Richardson’s 50 years of pastoral leadership.
“I was honored to be here for the 50th anniversary of Dr. Richardson, who’s an iconic figure in the Black church as well as in the nation,” Rev. Sharpton, who just finished preaching for Richardson’s 50th Anniversary, shared with Black Westchester. “To see the outpouring of love for him and the recognition of specific things he’s done is absolutely incredible.”
As Black communities face renewed threats to civil rights, both leaders stressed the urgency of remembering the past and reclaiming the tools that once changed the nation.
“I think that many of us were not schooled and bred in the struggle, and we take things for granted now,” Sharpton said. “We need to remind people of the things that we have gotten and we fought for.”
One such reminder is the power of economic pressure. “Chairman Richardson and I are meeting with Pepsi-Cola, and if they don’t do it right, we’re going to boycott,” Sharpton declared. “You cannot enjoy our consumer dollars and then say you’re with Trump in terms of cutting us out. We’re going back to what Adam Clayton Powell did in the thirties and what King did in the fifties. Economic Pressure.”
Rev. Richardson echoed the urgency: “That’s the last weapon we have. And it’s worked before, and I think it will challenge the Trump administration. He’s going to go down in history as the worst president we’ve ever had.”
Both leaders emphasized the necessity of reaching young people. This “generation will have less rights than our generation,” Sharpton warned, citing attacks on voting rights, affirmative action, and civil liberties. “We’re fighting for them to be able to have the rights we had and more.”
Richardson added, “They woke up with privilege, they have no idea what it took to get it. They have not appreciated what they received because it came so easily.”
As Richardson reflected on his own journey, he spoke of his alignment with Sharpton and the National Action Network: “I became a member, in search of finding a social justice expression for my own ministry.”
Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson didn’t hesitate to say, “I believe that Al Sharpton is the greatest civil rights leader of this time.”
I appreciate both men for allowing me to sit down and interview them.
