NEW YORK, July 29: Departing from the carefully scripted Democratic convention, Rev Al Sharpton on Wednesday attacked the Bush administration for its record on civil rights and the voting rights of the minorities.
In a rousing address in which he savaged President Bush, Mr Sharpton said to thunderous applause: "In all due respect, Mr President, read my lips: Our vote is not for sale."
Amidst standing ovation, Mr Sharpton, said: "You (Bush) said the Republican Party was the party of Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. It is true that Mr Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, after which there was a commitment to give 40 acres and a mule.
"That's where the argument, to this day, of reparations starts. We never got the 40 acres. We went all the way to Herbert Hoover, and we never got the 40 acres.
"We didn't get the mule. So we decided we'd ride this donkey as far as it would take us. (Donkey is the Democrats' election symbol). "Mr President, you said we would have more leverage if both parties got our votes, but we didn't come this far playing political games.
It was those that earned our vote that got our vote. We got the Civil Rights Act under a Democrat. We got the Voting Rights Act under a Democrat. We got the right to organize under Democrats."
Sharpton repeatedly departed from his prepared text - text that had been scrubbed by John Kerry's staff - and the amended message resonated with delegates who frequently interrupted his address with cheers and applause.
"Mr President, the reason we are fighting so hard, the reason we took Florida so seriously, is our right to vote wasn't gained because of our age. "Our vote was soaked in the blood of martyrs, soaked in the blood of good men, soaked in the blood of four little girls in Birmingham. This vote is sacred to us. This vote can't be bargained away. This vote can't be given away."
He drew one of the biggest responses when he said: "The issue of government is not to determine who may sleep together in the bedroom, it's to help those that might not be eating in the kitchen."
