Thirty pounds lighter in the seat but losing no weight in his jaw, Al Sharpton re-emerged on the New York news scene with his sights clearly set on expanding his platform of social activism beyond the New York/ New Jersey tri-state area.

The issue we all know that put him in a federal prison for 90 days was the result of his latest foray into the world of national politics. 

He and three other local leaders from The Bronx trespassed onto the Navy’s bombing range on the island of Vieques. 

They were arrested and certainly they only expected to pay a fine, but unexpectedly their civil disobedience would cost them all their freedom. 

It would cost the head of the National Action Network the most time because of prior acts of defiance.

This certainly gave him time to ponder the weight of being removed from the New York landscape but certainly trusted onto a slightly bigger lawn in the role of national symbol,

Even if it was for the cause of a people who were less than overwhelmingly in attendance for his release —that’s another story — his control of a block of influence is clear.

Sharpton’s arrest and stand on an issue not related to that of local police brutality, or crossing swords with the man at city hall who refuses to say his name at news conferences raised his profile so high, that another national black leader sent his wife there to also be seen by TV cameras, being led away in handcuffs.

Sharpton is now toying with the idea of running for President of the United States.

I think all people of reason who both love and hate “The Rev” know there is no way “the powers that be” would let him get to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Even the most middle of the road black man in America turned down the chance to run because he feared for his safety.

Nevertheless, there are enough cops being caught on tape beating the crap out of people of color across the country, cases of government of corporate sponsored racial discrimination, and people living in shameful economic conditions during a so-called time of prosperity to support a moderate if not short-lived run.

Non-people of color often ask me, “What do you think about Sharpton?” 

Usually, this is done to invoke some legitimization of their own fear, disdain or outright disgust for the man.

They marvel at why the guy who bit on to the fabricated story of rape by Tawana Brawley, who used to wear gaudy chains and warm-ups and who wrestled with his right-wing antithesis on a cheap talk show, generates so much attention whenever he does something.

If you haven’t already guessed over the last year, I am what I consider a just left of center moderate person. 

I don’t and haven’t always agreed with the way Al Sharpton has addressed a variety of issues over the years. 

There were times I found him a bit of an embarrassment. 

But over time as his rhetoric has matured and he has learned to look before he verbally leaps — I have had to re-evaluate my view about him.

In the history of this country, from the moment settlers landed here, one of the few things that has influenced people in power has been the threat of force. 

Negotiations for anything or any issue usually cannot be seriously conducted without some ultimate doomsday fear hovering overhead.

Even today when President George W. Bush or Bill Clinton before him, walked into a room, one of the men in his entourage is a guy carrying a briefcase.

That attache has all the codes to all the nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal. 

When Bush met with Russian President Vladimir Putin a month ago, Putin had a guy on his hip with a similar case. 

Each of the leaders can clearly see the guy with that case and they know what they contain.  That is what is called an “implied threat.”

So, I tell people that is what Al Sharpton represents and has represented for people of color in New York and New Jersey. 

He is our thermo-nuclear weapon of mass political and/or economic destruction. 

Companies and government institutions do not want him on their front porch with protestors in tow.  He will make his point, poetically and politically, but most of all, very loudly.

For a long time now, there has not been a national implied threat on behalf of people of color in the United States. 

Jesse Jackson’s affair and questions about his financial dealings have de-fanged him.

The NAACP continues to lose its bite and Colin Powell’s acceptance of a Republican agenda makes him virtually invisible to us.

I think at the very least a Sharpton run could serve as a reminder for what happened in Florida.

We need to register more Black voters and bring the issues of people of color back to the national spotlight.

— Gary Anthony Ramsay is a weekend anchor
and journalist on the all-news
cable station NY1 and along-time resident of Queens.