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national office three times on the Democratic slate, his opponents are just as likely to include Democrats as Republicans. It is probably fair to say the smallest list you couldmake regarding Sharptonwould be a list of people who either agree or disagree with every stand he has taken. GROWING UP IN THE CITY Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. was born on October 3, 1954, in Brooklyn, New York, to Alfred Charles Sharpton Sr. and Ada Sharpton. He was raised in a middle-class home in Hollis, Queens, where his father ran his own store and both parents were landlords. Sharpton says he has no early memories, or first-hand experiences, involving whites. His earliest memories, in fact, revolve around the all-black Washington Temple Church of God in Christ, located at 37 Grant Square, near Prospect Park. Sharpton attended the church with his family, including his sister. He says he can remember coming home at age three, lining up his sister’s dolls, and preaching to them. The next year, Sharpton became a junior usher at the church, and when he was asked what he wanted to do to help celebrate the church’s anniversary service, he knew exactly what to say. “I want to preach,” he answered. Of course, everyone laughed, but Sharpton’s church adviser said the church’s pastor, Bishop Frederick Douglas Washington, had started preaching when he was four. The adviser asked the bishop about the four-year-old Sharpton’s request and he agreed to let the boy take the lectern. In his book Go and Tell Pharaoh: The Autobiography of The Reverend Al Sharpton , coauthored with Anthony Walton, Sharpton remembers his older half sister helping prepare him for the speech by typing up a manuscript. Even though he had yet to start school, Sharpton says, he read the sermon that weekend in front of the church’s 900 members. He wrote: “I preached from the Gospel of John, the 14th chapter: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” I remember being nervous. They had to put

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