As the first full week of the 116th Congress wraps up, civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton and NAN DC Bureau Chief Ebonie Riley on Thursday took part in a series of meetings with historic new members of Congress.
In each meeting, he discussed priorities for the coming session and the newly elected members’ plans to fight back against the disastrous anti-civil rights agenda enacted by the Trump administration in the last two years.
Sharpton attended meetings with Rep. Antonio Delgado, the First person of African American and Hispanic descent to be elected to Congress from upstate New York Rep. Lucy McBath, a gun reform advocate and mother of the movement and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , the youngest ever woman elected to Congress
“I met with Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, Representatives Antonio Delgado and Lucy McBath to push forward National Action’s Network’s mission to drive a national dialogue about the voting rights, criminal justice reform and environmental rights in this country,” said Sharpton at the meetings. “I encouraged Congress and others to help us fight for these racial and economic injustices, and I look forward to meeting with others to continue pushing NAN’s agenda.”
The meetings come just weeks before National Action Network’s (NAN) planned Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebrations, including a breakfast in Washington, D.C., featuring former Vice President of the United States Joe Biden and as the civil rights community galvanizes around the 2020 presidential race.