# Does Al Sharpton Have a JOB? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 16, 2002, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-al-sharpton-have-a-job/136970 "2002-11-16T01:37:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-al-sharpton-have-a-job/136970/1 "2002-11-16T01:37:07Z")
[sub]In case anyone has asked this before, a search failed to turn up conclusive results.[/sub] Seriously. I know that he’s a valiant crusader for the rights of the oppressed, or a power-hungry publicity hound (depending on your POV, of course), but how does he put food on his plate? Does he have a church somewhere that pays him? Is he the president of some organization from which he draws a salary? TIA ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-al-sharpton-have-a-job/136970/2 "2002-11-16T02:05:14Z")
He is the founder and President of the [National Action Network](http://www.nationalactionnetwork.org/boardmembers.htm), at the very least. I have no idea if this is how he puts food on the table, however. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-al-sharpton-have-a-job/136970/3 "2002-11-16T02:28:54Z")
Well, he _is_ “The Reverend Al Sharpton,” so I would assume that he’s the pastor of a church somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-al-sharpton-have-a-job/136970/4 "2002-11-16T03:54:22Z")
Heh. Googling “al sharpton salary”… [http://www.mugu.com/pipermail/upstream-list/2000-December/000971.html](http://www.mugu.com/pipermail/upstream-list/2000-December/000971.html) > [@](#): > > Sharpton: No Money for Slander Suit > > The Associated Press > Thursday, Dec. 7, 2000; 4:00 p.m. EST > > POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. –– The Rev. Al Sharpton said he cannot > afford to pay $65,000 to the former prosecutor he slandered with > comments about the faked abduction and rape of a 15-year-old > girl. > > “I keep hearing (in the media) that I’m supposed to have houses > in the Bahamas, or at least a yacht,” the civil rights activist said in > Thursday’s Poughkeepsie Journal. “I’ve been investigated by the > Internal Revenue Service, and if Uncle Sam can’t find anything, I > sure don’t have anything.” > > \< snip \> > > A federal marshal has been collecting about 10 percent of > Sharpton’s salary from his job as director of the National Action > Network and turning the money over to Pagones. “Pagones” being the prosecutor he slandered. From August 2001. [http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010815/3544684s.htm](http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010815/3544684s.htm) > [@](#): > > A once-shunned Sharpton on a comeback N.Y. minister now getting more respect for his political activism after a history of controversy > By Charisse Jones > USA TODAY > > NEW YORK – They flocked to the jail in Brooklyn to pay their respects. Jesse Jackson, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, former Atlanta mayor Maynard Jackson. Coretta Scott King sent a letter. Even rap impresario Russell Simmons has called on Al Sharpton during his 90-day sentence for protesting Navy bombing exercises on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. > > \< snip \> > > Sharpton receives a small salary from the National Action Network, a civil rights group he founded that has 12 chapters around the country. But he draws most of his income from speaking engagements: $2,500-$5,000 per speech. As far as I can tell, he doesn’t pastor a church anywhere. [http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=171&category=civicMakers](http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=171&category=civicMakers) > [@](#): > > Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1954, Reverand Alfred “Al” Sharpton has been preaching since age four. He was licensed and ordained at age nine. You can be a licensed and ordained minister–and preacher–without also pastoring a church. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-al-sharpton-have-a-job/136970/5 "2002-11-16T03:57:00Z")
Someone in NYC did a story in a local Straight Dopey-type weekly about the Rev’s Karate school. I kid you not. Apparently he’s got some financial interest in a Harlem Kung Fu parlor. And when the reporter asked him about it during a press conference Reverend Al really perked up – seems everybody wants to hound him about his opinion on this or that civil rights issue, but no one ever asks him about his Karate school. ---
**Author:** ![Philosophocles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Philosophocles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philosophocles)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-al-sharpton-have-a-job/136970/6 "2002-11-16T04:40:44Z")
He is a professional guinea pig for experimental hair care products. ---
**Author:** ![Janx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Janx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janx)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-al-sharpton-have-a-job/136970/7 "2002-11-16T05:10:24Z")
[Mr. Rogers] Can you say \*\* Bonfire Of The Vanities? \*\* I knew you could. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-al-sharpton-have-a-job/136970/8 "2002-11-16T14:08:09Z")
I’ve met both Rev. & Mrs. Sharpton when they rented a townhouse through my company. His employer is the National Action Committee, and his wife is a professional singer. We went to see her at the Apollo Theatre. She is also one of the nicest people I have ever met. ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-al-sharpton-have-a-job/136970/9 "2002-11-16T15:40:09Z")
Does anyone know what the heck \*\*janx \*\* is talking about? ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-al-sharpton-have-a-job/136970/10 "2002-11-17T02:08:34Z")
There was a very interesting article about Sharpton a few months back, I believe it was in **The New Yorker**. Some of the most interesting bits were about his finances, which apparently come down to this: Sharpton himself, doesn’t _own_ anything, or very little. The car he drives and the house he lives in are in family members names. Seemed to be a REALLY great way to pull off a major tax dodge, if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-al-sharpton-have-a-job/136970/11 "2002-11-17T06:01:27Z")
And to **“Poor Mouth”** :rolleyes: