Editing Al Sharpton (section)

==Reputation==
[[File:President Joe Biden poses for a photo with Al Sharpton and Nancy Pelosi (52635231033).jpg|thumb|Sharpton with President [[Joe Biden]] and Representative [[Nancy Pelosi]] in 2023]]
Sharpton's supporters praise "his ability and willingness to defy the power structure that is seen as the cause of their suffering"<ref name="Taylor127">{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Clarence |title=Black Religious Intellectuals: The Fight for Equality from Jim Crow to the 21st Century |year=2002 |publisher=[[Routledge]]|location=London, England|isbn=0-415-93326-9 |page=127}}</ref> and consider him "a man who is willing to tell it like it is".<ref name="Taylor127" /> Former [[Mayor of New York City]] [[Ed Koch]], one-time foe, said that Sharpton deserves the respect he enjoys among black Americans: "He is willing to go to jail for them, and he is there when they need him."<ref name=Taxes>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-05-09-3272597865_x.htm |title=Records show Sharpton owes overdue taxes, other penalties |access-date=April 15, 2012 |last=Caruso |first=David B. |date=May 9, 2008 |work=[[USA Today]]|location=McLean, Virginia}}</ref> President [[Barack Obama]] said that Sharpton is "the voice of the voiceless and a champion for the downtrodden".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://thegrio.com/2014/02/06/thegrios-100-rev-al-sharpton-taking-his-activist-fight-to-the-airwaves |title=theGrio's 100: Rev. Al Sharpton, Taking His Activist Fight to the Airwaves |date=February 6, 2014 |work=[[The Grio]] |access-date=June 3, 2014}}</ref> A 2013 [[IBOPE Zogby International|Zogby Analytics]] poll found that one quarter of African Americans said that Sharpton speaks for them.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://thegrio.com/2013/03/28/black-america-doesnt-lack-leaders/ |title=Black America Doesn't Lack Leaders: Poll Shows 24 Percent Say Sharpton Speaks for Them |first=Earl Ofari |last=Hutchinson |author-link=Earl Ofari Hutchinson |website=[[The Grio]] |date=March 28, 2013 |access-date=July 11, 2013}}</ref>

His critics describe him as "a political radical who is to blame, in part, for the deterioration of race relations".<ref name="Taylor118">{{cite book |first=Clarence|last=Taylor |title=Black Religious Intellectuals |publisher=[[Psychology Press]]|location=London, England|date=2002|isbn=9780415933261|page=118}}</ref> Sociologist [[Orlando Patterson]] has referred to him as a racial arsonist,<ref name="Taylor120">{{cite book |last=Taylor |title=Black Religious Intellectuals |page=120}}</ref> while [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]] columnist [[Derrick Z. Jackson]] has called him the black equivalent of [[Richard Nixon]] and [[Pat Buchanan]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Jackson |first1=Derrick Z. |title=Uneasy about Sharpton |url=http://www.boston.com/news/politics/campaign2000/news/Uneasy_about_Sharpton+.shtml |website=Boston Globe |access-date=February 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030621220433/http://www.boston.com/news/politics/campaign2000/news/Uneasy_about_Sharpton%2B.shtml |archive-date=June 21, 2003 |date=February 25, 2000 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Sharpton sees much of the criticism as a sign of his effectiveness. "In many ways, what they consider criticism is complimenting my job," he said. "An activist's job is to make public civil rights issues until there can be a climate for change."<ref name=DS/>