“The constitution is not your pledge to the president, not to the Senate, not to the House of Representatives, but your pledge should be to the constitution of the United States. Everybody. Nobody is above the constitution. And if we destroy the constitution, then we become an anarchist nation. So I’m telling you to go to the polls and vote!” – Bishop R. L. Jones
“Michigan will become the litmus test for the power of Black voters in this election, which is why it is crucial everyone who can vote heads to the polls by November 5th” – Rev. Al Sharpton, Founder and President of the National Action Network (NAN).
Written by and photos by L. M. Land
Featured photo: Yusef Salaam, one of the Central Park Five boys incarcerated in 1989, held up the ad that Donald Trump took out in four New York city newspapers ten days after the boys were arrested. Trump calls for the death penalty to be reinstated to make these boys an example for other criminals.”
Reverend Al Sharpton came to Flint on October 24, 2024 to excite and inform Flint voters of what is at stake if Kamala Harris is not elected. Sharpton organized the “Wheels of Justice Michigan Bus Tour,” which is also covering other key states. The event was hosted by Bishop Christopher Martin at the Cathedral of Faith in Flint, Michigan.
Sharpton brought with him persons who experienced firsthand, in modern times, extreme racism by the agencies that are supposed to protect and serve us all: the police and our judicial system. The main message from all the speakers is that we will lose the ground gained over the last two centuries if Trump is elected as president of the United States.
Travelling with Sharpton were Terence Floyd, brother of George Floyd and two of the now ‘Exonerated Five’, Korey Wise and Yusef Salaam, as well as Rev. Charles Williams II, Director of the Mid-Western Region of NAN.
The pain that Floyd, Wise and Salaam experienced is imbedded in their words and hearts. This pain rolled off their tongues as sound, moving through the room and back down through centuries of racism, sorrow and slavery. This pain was inflicted by the agencies we supposedly should trust, the police and our judicial system.
The esteemed Bishop R. L. Jones spoke. “Prayer is not enough. I know you know the Lord. I know you have convictions. But you need to go to the poll box and vote! Let’s vote. Let’s stay together.”
Williams pointed out that early voting started, but recommended that we all take someone else out to vote as well, or get them signed up to vote if they’re not already.
Williams also addressed a problem common at voting sites.
“We cannot allow these white folk from Howell Michigan, from Brighton, from all these different places where Black folk don’t go, to come into our cities and intimidate our folks at the polls. We can’t stand for it. You remember when Biden was getting elected we had folks down at the count centers, beating on the walls and beating down the doors trying to get in to obstruct the election. This year we are going to have some big Black burly men and some mamas with their purses saying I dare you to get in my way.”
Sharpton spoke next. “A lot of people will ask, why are we having get out the vote rallies at church? The answer is that we got the right to vote based in church. The Voting Rights Movement started out of the church…on the fruits of labor of folks who the only thing they had was faith.”
Sharpton pointed out that it was the Biden administration, Vice President Kamala Harris in particular, who got the price of insulin capped at $35 and gave other examples that show this administration is working for all people.
“So let’s not talk about some foolishness like Trump got swagger. That’s what somebody told me. Well good. He got more than swagger, he got 34 felony convictions. He got civil cases against him. So he can take that swagger and walk all over the jail house, not the White House!
“Michigan is going to be critical because where Michigan goes could decide who goes into the White House…We are here standing up for who God would want us to stand up for. If David can fight Goliath, and Daniel can fight
If Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego can stand up against the king, then sure, Al Sharpton and Charles Williams can stand up against Donald Trump!
“In 2020, I was in New York…locked down because of the pandemic…I got a call from attorney Ben Crump. He told me, he said, Rev. Al, you might have seen on TV that police killed a young man in Minneapolis, Minnesota and a Black girl filmed it and put it out. Stood on his neck for over 9 minutes. The family is on the other line, and they’d like you to go to Minneapolis and do the funeral, and from there try to lead the marches and keep them peaceful. They didn’t want all this burning up business in his name. So, I talked to the family.”
It was George Floyd’s family on the phone. A supporter got Sharpton a plane to Minnesota (remember that airports were closed due to COVID), and Tyler Perry supplied a plane to carry Floyd to Houston to be buried next to his Mother. Sharpton is still close to the Floyd family.
Donald Trump was the president when George Floyd was killed, and other racist murders took place then. Trump never commented on any of this for four years as president.
Sharpton continued, “With me today are those that lived this. I want to give them a few words, so you can hear it from them. First I want you to hear an activist extraordinaire that has travelled this country for other families. I want you to hear from the brother of George Floyd, Terrence Floyd.”
Terrence Floyd began. “Four years ago, it was traumatic what happened to my brother, and I, like everyone else, I saw it on social media. And like the Rev. said, Trump said nothing.
“I want to thank the people, the protesters, boots on the ground, everybody who fought for my family and prayed for my family. Because of you we got those guilty verdicts. And I thank you.
“Don’t forget the unity that we all had when my brother got murdered…everyone chanted his name, all together. But here we are, four years later and have mostly forgotten. Don’t forget, wake up, keep your eyes open, don’t walk around blind.
“Don’t forget our purpose in this world, on this earth, is to be united. And we gotta get out. and we gotta vote. Because if we don’t vote, it’s gonna be chaos.”
Floyd said that he has heard men say they are uncomfortable with having a female president “rule over them.”
“I been telling the young men in my neighborhood: ‘Don’t you have a mother?’ Because Kamala could be somebody mother, somebody’s sister, just like yours.”
Floyd also spoke about the positive impact Sharpton has had in his life. “And now I stand side by side with the man I looked at on TV [Sharpton] and he call me ‘Little Brother’. Wow. I’ve learned a lot from Rev, and I go in the neighborhoods and I teach the young people what I am learning.”
With what he’s learned, Floyd decided to make a difference. He started an organization, ‘We are Floyd’ based in Brooklyn, New York. He goes to schools to talk about mental illness, depression, suicide, or “Anything that is a plague on our culture.”
“So as always, I end with my saying that I’ve said since 2021:
I’m gonna walk where he can’t walk no more.
I’m gonna talk where he can’t talk no more, and
I’m gonna love where he can’t love no more.”
Sharpton then introduced two men, Korey Wise and Yusef Salaam, formerly known as the Central Park Five. He told us part of the complex story.
On April 19, 1989, New York City, crime was growing as the crack epidemic surged. Five young men were accused of a brutal rape in Central Park; they were 14, 15 and Wise was the oldest at 16 years old. The police forced confessions from the young men after beatings and other methods, wearing them down to confess. They each withdrew the confessions shortly after.
One of the boy’s mothers called Sharpton who organized protests and support for the families.
On May 1, 1989, 10 days later, a white business man posted an ad in four New York City newspapers to call for the death penalty to be reinstated, and how much he hated these young men. This was $85,000 worth of ads in 1989, paid by Donald Trump. Trump and his father also had a Justice Department legal suit around this time as they would not hire Blacks.
Salaam stood before us and held up the ad that Trump ran in the NYC papers, which expresses Trump’s belief that the five young men should be executed to make an example for other criminals. The title reads ‘Bring back the death penalty, bring back the police.’
“This happened in a country where you are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty” Salaam said.
Thirty-five years later, Trump still brings this ad up, and did in his recent debate with Kamala Harris. On October 21, 2024, the Exonerated Five sued Trump for defamation in a federal court in Philadelphia, where Trump had made the false statements.
In 1989, the young men were convicted and sentenced to 7-15 years. Wise was tried as an adult and sent to an adult prison. The others were sent to juvenile facilities.
Wise shared his story of being released from prison after doing 15 years time. Salaam explained that “Korey (Wise) is the reason why we are the Exonerated Five. Korey could have took his life in prison. Going to prison for rape is the worse crime only trumped by child molestation. Inmates have their own ways of dealing with that kind of atrocity. The fact that Korey is here in this church right now, in Flint, is nothing shy of a miracle.”
Wise expressed his support for Harris. “We’ve got to bless our Auntie, bless Vice President Kamala Harris. It’s her time now: It’s her time. It’s not his time, it’s her time. He already had it. He messed it up.”
“This is who you want as the president again?” Salaam continued, “Of these United States? Someone who will plunge us back [where] rights to ‘own’ people become the law of the land again. They are already calling the prison population in Alabama and places like Mississippi ‘slaves’. “
Salaam sighed. “We’ve been fighting against Donald Trump, Korey and I. Korey was not there in the park. I don’t know if you all know this. Korey was with me when the police came and said: ‘What’s your name?’…They said to Korey: ‘Do you want to go downtown with your buddy? You’ll be right back.”’
Korey did not see home again for 15 years.
“Korey came home [from prison] because he is a survivor.” continued Salaam. “Because the truth came out, because the person who did the crime saw Korey still in prison. This case is not just a normal case. This is God putting the criminal system of injustice on trial in order to produce a miracle in modern times. This case is a story about a people who could be buried alive and forgotten and the system will forget that we are seeds. This case is a case where they put us in triple darkness. But because they forgot the owner of the heat, when we opened our eyes we’re able to see in the dark.
“I am trying to explain the fact that we are in darkness right now. We are being presented in the darkness a clean glass and a dirty glass.
“We know who Donald Trump is”, Salaam said, indicating the entire audience. “He is person who has told us that if you buy his gold sneakers you might be able to click your way out of oppression. That if you buy his watch, you will be able to always tell it is Trump time. If you buy his gold coins, you’d increase his bank account. And that Bible that he had…the Bible was upside down.
“Dr. Maya Angelou said, ‘When people show you who they are, believe them.’
“Rev. Sharpton called us [Wise and Salaam] to join him as a part of, what I cannot describe in any other words, for a modern civil rights movement…we are modern day civil rights movement people. When Rev. Sharpton calls us to stand with him and march with him, we are marching for justice. When he calls us to come on a bus and drive all over this state, we are the modern day freedom riders.
“What this is,is the last attempt for us to get it right.” explained Salaam. “If Donald Trump gets into office, it will be worse than January 6. We will be on the menu. Because he’s already said: ‘I’m gonna give the police officers immunity. I will pardon myself.’
“As a father of seven girls, when I see a Sonya Massey get shot in the face, I am concerned. As a father of three boys, when I see a George Floyd get assassinated, I’m concerned.
“What country will we leave [our children]? Democracy is on the ballot. We have to move with a certain sense of urgency. And every single one in this room is the only one who can push this thing forward. We got a lot of work to do, and I ain’t no way tired. Let’s vote,” concluded Salaam.
In what is poetic justice, Salaam was recently elected to the New York City counsel.
Mayor Neeley spoke next to everyone in the room, “Go out and get someone to participate in the voting process. Put down your malice, anger, hostility…pick up love for one another and vote for our future… I thank you guys for being here, consider yourself deputized to go out and make a difference. God Bless you.”
Bishop Martin concluded:” History has been made today, and we’re ready.”
*Note that the brutal rapist who committed the crime is the one who freed five innocent men, not law enforcement or any other agency.
If you are interested in protecting the election, sign up at the NAN website, the link is below. “Say [on the form that] I want to be a part of protecting the election.” said Williams.
The National Action Network: https://nationalactionnetwork.net/
Resources for your further reading:
The Central Park Jogger Case:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Park_jogger_case
Trumps 1989 newspaper ad calling for the death penalty: trump-newspaper.pdf
Yusef Salaam’s ad to Trump: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65197862
Lawsuit filed against Trump on 10-21-2024 by the Exonerated Five:
https://www.npr.org/2024/09/11/nx-s1-5108632/central-park-five-trump-debate
Floyd family:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd
https://www.floydfamilycenter.org
The Cathedral of Faith is located at 6031 Dupont St, Flint, MI, Bishop Christopher Martin, Senior Pastor.
