Al Sharpton delivers keynote at community college DEI retreat, says ‘right-wingers’ are ‘closing the doors’ on civil rights

Rev. Al Sharpton said conservatives are stifling civil rights in a July 26 keynote speech at the Hudson County Community College’s (HCCC) annual Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Summer Retreat.

“They [conservatives] are attempting to close the doors,” he said. “They have a Supreme Court stacked, they have right-wingers in certain political office. They’re trying to close the doors.” 

The retreat included sessions on “social justice, accessibility, gender identity, equity, team building, and taking stock of the College’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion journey,” an event description said. 

“DEI is under question,” Sharpton said. “This gathering is more important and necessary than ever.”

Sharpton added that understanding DEI is contingent on understanding Reconstruction, which wouldn’t have occurred if there had not been destruction. 

“Reconstruction only lasted 12 years,” he said. “Backlash brought in a conservative Supreme Court. A conservative Supreme Court had various Supreme Court decisions, Plessy versus Ferguson, and others, the rise of terrorism, the Ku Klux Klan. By the turn of the century 1900s, Blacks were being lynched. And there was no legal process to protect our rights.”

He told the audience to overlook their differences and conflicts to preserve affirmative action and civil rights, adding that allowing the doors to close due to immaturity will cause future generations to face tribulations.

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Minorities advocated for institutions to incorporate DEI programs, so people should withdraw their money if they don’t have them, Sharpton said.

Sharpton expressed disappointment in several Supreme Court rulings and attributed them to the 6-3 conservative majority.    

He referenced Dobbs v. Jackson which delegated abortion regulations back to the states; Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University and Students for Fair Admissions v. UNC Chapel Hill, which ruled against affirmative action in college admissions; 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, which defended a Christian web designer who refused to make a website for a same-sex couple; and the strike against President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program in Biden v. Nebraska. 

“The Supreme Court has outlawed women’s rights, came back and knocked out affirmative action, came back and said, ‘you can keep LGBTQ out of our business,’ which is a violation of civil rights, and came back and canceled forgiveness of student loan debt,” Sharpton said. 

“If all of us are being despised by the same people, even if we don’t agree on every issue, if we all got together, we could beat them,” he said. “They win by our division rather than their strength.”

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Campus Reform reached out to HCCC and Sharpton for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.