*Rev. Al Sharpton’s father has died at age 93. While announcing his father’s demise, the 69-year-old civil rights activist and Reverend also took the opportunity to remind the world that his dad had not been a really good father.
“I’m deeply saddened to announce the passing of my father, Al Sharpton, Sr. Our relationship was complicated, but he was still my father,” read a statement released on Saturday by the MSNBC host after his father — senior Sharpton — died in Orlando, Florida on Friday, reports the NY Post.
By “our relationship was complicated” he referenced his father’s past complicated behaviors.
“Born and raised in Jim Crow Florida, he later came to New York City and became a successful entrepreneur. Though his weaknesses may have cost him, he instilled in my sister and me (and later our other siblings) a mentality of independence and self-pride. I’ve learned from my own mistakes and his. May my Daddy rest in peace,” he said.
When Reverend Sharpton was only 10, his father abandoned the family in 1963 and eloped with young Sharpton’s 18-year-old half-sister with whom he started a relationship and a family. The father owned various residential buildings in Brooklyn at the time.
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In 2013, Reverend Sharpton narrated the ordeal to Oprah Winfrey:
“I wake up one morning, he’s gone. And not only is he gone, my oldest sister from my mother’s first marriage,” he narrated. “Left with him and they had a child. And then they came and took my sister to live with them.”
It’s this frustration and rejection that drove young Sharpton to seek God. He found solace in the church. As for his frustrations, he put them to good use: He championed civil rights. He has always maintained that it’s his father’s indiscretions that changed his path in life. Sharpton turned to the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, to fill the vacuum left by his biological father.
But he finally reconciled with his complicated father in 2006.
“Over the past 18 years, I was able to work through my pain and feelings of abandonment, and we built a relationship that meant a lot to me,” stated the Reverend.
But even after reconciliation, the Reverend continued to reference the damaged relationship in milestone social media posts in recent years, no doubt to warn the would-be bad fathers.
This past June, Sharpton posted a Father’s Day message for his “natural father,” saying, “Though he left when I was 10 years old, we reconciled many years later. I’ve learned from his wisdom and tenacity.”
It therefore makes sense why he has continued to point out his father’s failures even after his death. He also urged his followers to use his father’s passing as an opportunity to reconcile damaged relationships with loved ones and family.
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