Interview conducted, condensed & edited by Keija Minor
Photography by Sumner Dilworth

The conservative loafers that Rev. Al Sharpton is wearing probably weren’t built for marching on Washington. But they befit the civil rights crusader he has become: Sharpton regularly breaks bread with some of the country’s top power brokers and serves as a go-to guest for talk shows spanning the political spectrum, including Meet the Press and Morning Joe. He now attacks civil rights issues from a variety of angles and has even gone so far as to tour the country with frenemy Newt Gingrich to promote education reform. Still, his roots remain in peaceful protest politics—this May, he marched with a group through the streets of Phoenix to oppose Arizona’s new immigration law. In a recent chat with UPTOWN at the WWRL studio in New York, where he was about to host his nationally syndicated radio talk show, Keepin’ It Real with Al Sharpton, the 55-year-old activist explained—among other things—how he has become more strategic.

UPTOWN: When did you give your first sermon?
Rev. Al Sharpton: At age 3, I would come home from church, throw on my mother’s housecoat for a robe, stand in front of the mirror, and preach to my sister’s dolls. When I was 4, Bishop Washington [of the Washington Temple Church of God in Christ in Brooklyn] let me preach in front of about 900 people. By the time I was 7, I was going around to different churches…. I literally grew up as a boy preacher.

At Michael Jackson’s memorial service, you said to his children, “Wasn’t nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with.” What did you mean by that?
One of the reasons Michael Jackson and I related so well was that I grew up preaching and he grew up onstage. We were only three years apart, both of us never had a “childhood,” and we understood that what was normal to others wasn’t normal to us. We used to have a lot of conversations about that.

You’re doing a lot of work these days on education reform, and with Newt Gingrich of all people. How did that happen?
He invited me to address his organization at the Republican Convention. I’d never met Newt before. Obviously, I was on the other side of many issues; I had even marched on his office in Georgia. Everyone on my staff told me not to go. They said, “You’ll get booed; you’ll get heckled.” And I said, “Yeah, but if we’re going to be serious [about education], let’s take the heckling; let’s see what happens.” To his surprise and mine, I got two standing ovations, because I explained to the audience that the new form of racism is low expectations—expecting certain kids not to succeed. If we’re going to get any education reform legislation passed, we’re going to need support from Republicans and Democrats. President Obama thought that was a novel idea and invited Newt and me to come to the White House. [Laughing] I didn’t know that was going to lead to us touring the country together.