A MESSAGE OF SUPPORT!

To:                     Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network

Subject:            CLOSING the EDUCATION ACHIEVEMENT GAP

Greetings:

Thank you for your leadership through service and sacrifice in the struggle for Human Rights and equal justice for all people.

You are carrying on the tradition of such luminaries as Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Frederick Douglass made powerful and courageous stands for Human Rights and equal justice for all people, male and female.

His sobering and timeless messages challenge "We the People" who claim to "hold these truths to be self-evident" to live up to the ideals of America.

His words are as relevant as ever and include:

"Agitate! Agitate! Agitate!" to which we might add

"Educate! Educate! Educate!" in the light of our present crises.

Prior obligations, for which I have been unable to secure reliable backup, prevent my physical presence with the coalition of civil rights leaders, education activists, community leaders, students, and parents who shall gather at the White House Ellipse in Washington DC on May 16th to observe the 55th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education.

Please be assured, however, of my full support to which we shall continue to add the resources of our Web site and its related publications.

They include, but are not limited to:

http://www.eightcitiesmap.com/closethegap.htm

and

http://www.eightcitiesmap.com/reflections.htm

and

http://www.eightcitiesmap.com/jhfranklin1.htm

and

http://www.eightcitiesmap.com/calltogreatness.htm

as well as several links to the

National Action Network.
National Action Network Web site.

On January 12, 1975 I remarked to those gathered at the annual awards presentations of a community based youth service organization in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that

"we could have gotten a lot more done if we had just a little more support from a few more people!"

These many years later, that observation still rings true.

The overwhelming majority of our thousands of readers from more than 160 nations (that represent most of the families of humanity) show an intense interest in issues impacting the African American community. Educational concerns top the list of topics followed closely by current events and historical figures who contribute to our heritage.

This analysis of our statistics confirms the observation of our beloved and honorable ancestor John Hope Franklin:

"My ever-widening contacts in the United States presented me with opportunities to become associated with historians in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and South America. Each contact was instructive not only about the many things that peoples of the world have in common but also as to the intense interest other peoples have in problems and developments far removed from their own that would nevertheless assist them in understanding their own society."

(From pages 7 and 8 of the first edition of

Mirror to America.)

Thank you for being (in spite of opposition from the uninformed and misinformed) a "hero proved in liberating strife" and a patriot whose dream has seen "beyond the years."

Please keep the Faith and continue to share it.

Sincerely,