“I could have easily been a statistic. Growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., it was easy - a little too easy - to get into trouble. Surrounded by poor schools, lack of resources, high unemployment rates, poverty, gangs and more, I watched as many of my peers fell victim to a vicious cycle of diminished opportunities and imprisonment.”

American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, and media personality

Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. is an American civil rights and social justice activist, Baptist minister, radio talk show host, and television personality. He founded the National Action Network and was a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2004 U.S. presidential election. He is known for public advocacy on civil rights and social justice, as well as for a long media presence. He hosts the weekday radio show Keepin' It Real, syndicated nationally by Urban One, and serves as a political analyst and weekend host for MS NOW on PoliticsNation.