Obama, De Blasio to Show at Sharpton Convention

NEW YORK (AP) —
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Al Sharpton are presented with portraits during the opening ceremonies of the National Action Network convention Wednesday. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Al Sharpton are presented with portraits during the opening ceremonies of the National Action Network convention Wednesday. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Al Sharpton opened his annual civil rights conference Wednesday, which President Barack Obama plans to attend, amid revelations about the activist’s cooperation with the FBI in a 1980s mob investigation.

Sharpton acknowledged the previous day that he helped the feds investigate New York Mafia figures, even making secret recordings that appeared to help bring down a mob boss. The cooperation came at an awkward time for Sharpton, as he presides over the National Action Network conference.

Obama, who has appeared at the conference in previous years, is to deliver its keynote address on Friday.

In opening the conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio, a longtime Sharpton ally, gave a full-throated defense of the civil rights leader.

“I just want everyone to know I am proud to stand with Rev. Sharpton,” de Blasio told a crowd gathered in a ballroom of a Manhattan hotel. “Because to borrow a phrase from our youth, Reverend, ‘you’re the real thing.’”

Many in the Jewish community hold Sharpton partially responsible for inciting the Crown Heights riots in 1991 which culminated in the murder of Yankel Rosenbaum, Hy”d. Although as recently as last year he has refused to apologize, Sharpton has since turned into a presidential contender, political commentator and, as is evidenced by the high profile guest list this week, a frequent White House visitor and consultant.

At the confab’s opening Wednesday, de Blasio heaped praise on Sharpton, crediting him with leading a march two years ago that turned the tide against the NYPD tactic known as stop-and-frisk, which allows police to question someone deemed suspicious.

“[Sharpton’s] work gets more powerful with every passing year: He reaches more people, he has a greater impact,” the mayor said.

The city’s tabloids have ridiculed Sharpton in recent days, with the New York Daily News publishing a cover of him as a cat — a reference to Sharpton’s declaration Tuesday that he wasn’t a “rat.” He added: “I’m a cat. I chase rats.”

Sharpton insisted that he “made the right decision” to help law enforcement.

Attorney General Eric Holder also spoke at the conference Wednesday but made no mention of the story swirling around Sharpton, instead focusing his remarks on the need for increased racial fairness in policing and prison sentencing.

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