LISTEN TO: My Interview With Reverend Al Sharpton

The Reverend Al Sharpton has a new book out called Rise Up, America At The Crossroads. What a great opportunity I had to talk about which fork in that road we should take.

Since he had no idea who he was talking to, other than I was some radio talk host from Wyoming, he did not know what to expect.

I know that being confrontational only leads to making the guest defensive. I wanted to score points in a debate with him, but I'd have to be tactful to do it. Besides, all he really wanted to do was promote his book.

I began with some pleasantries about how New York, where he is from, was a ghost town due to COVID-19, and asked him how he could sleep with all that quiet. He admitted that he had to learn to. Beginning the conversation like that relaxed Sharpton. Now he would be less defensive.

I started with some softball questions that gradually became tougher. I also made sure to evoke the name of Dr. Martin Luther King's when making a point. Sharpton might argue with me, but he would not dare argue with the words of Dr. King.

Sharpton calls for quotas for racial groups and people of different sexual orientation. I quoted Dr. King, regarding judging a person by the content of his character, and nothing more.

We then spoke about violence in the name of George Floyd and the damage Black Lives Matter has done to Dr. King's peaceful movement.

Finally, I asked him about the problems of the inner cities, like Chicago, where I have grown exhausted of reading the weekly body count. I called it a cultural problem. He advocated for tougher gun control. I pointed out that the UK has tougher gun control but the murder rate has increased. Now they are killing each other in greater numbers, but with knives.

My only regret in this conversation was that he was too easy to get him to back step on important issue and to box into a corner near the end. I figured him to be more savvy than he was.