NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� The Rev. Al Sharpton鈥檚 staff and advisers stood around him just outside the doors of a cozy theater, where some of his most fervent supporters waited to greet him in the newly renovated headquarters of the National Action Network.
When doors flung open, Sharpton entered to a standing ovation that continued until he was perched behind a lectern, on a stage decorated with a floor-to-ceiling video screen.
The audience was not anticipating a call for justice. Instead, the rabble-rousing was there to declare his organization was officially an owner, no longer a renter, in the historically Black Harlem neighborhood it has called home for more than two decades.
鈥淚 want to make something permanent,鈥� Sharpton said recently to the gathered crowd of NAN board members, local clergy and other allies. 鈥淲hen people see that you鈥檝e bought a building, they say, 鈥榃ait a minute, they鈥檙e not going nowhere.鈥欌��
NAN鈥檚 new permanent home is the former Faison Firehouse Theater on Hancock Place, near the intersection of 124th Street and Manhattan Avenue. George Faison, a Tony Award-winning choreographer known for his work in the original 1970s Broadway staging of 鈥淭he Wiz,鈥� had bought the firehouse in 1999 and converted it into a community theater.
When Faison had a choice between selling the former firehouse in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood to a large developer or selling it to NAN, he chose the latter, according to Sharpton.
鈥淚鈥檓 71 years old 鈥� if I was just trying to do it as an Al Sharpton personal fan club, I could just keep renting,鈥� Sharpton told The Associated Press during an interview in his new private office, with large windows overlooking central Harlem.
鈥淚鈥檓 buying it to show I want this to be an institution. I want it to last beyond me.鈥�
Although the renovation is structurally complete and its rooms are functional, Sharpton said he expects his weekly Saturday rallies to resume in the new headquarters this summer.
From renting to owning
Founded in 1991, NAN began meeting at P.S. 175, a Manhattan elementary school, during the tenure of the late , New York City鈥檚 first Black mayor. Next, NAN rented a space at 125th Street and Madison Avenue. In 2006, Sharpton moved NAN into a rented space at 145th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard, where it operated until January.
NAN’s headquarters had been named the 鈥淗ouse of Justice鈥� by his late mentor, .
Often organizing from his Harlem headquarters, Sharpton became known staging direct-action protests on behalf of Black men killed, brutalized or persecuted by police in New York City: Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo, formerly known as the Central Park Five, and , among others.
鈥淗arlem means home,鈥� Sharpton told the AP.
The new NAN headquarters now carries the name 鈥淗ouse of Justice Rev. Jesse Jackson鈥檚 Workshop,鈥� following the multimillion dollar purchase and renovation of its five floors. Sharpton said he will invite artists to hold salons, poetry readings and jazz nights, as a callback to the Black cultural and intellectual movement of the Harlem Renaissance.
Looking out at his supporters during the invite-only reception for the new space, Sharpton reflected not just on the NAN鈥檚 past, but on the current cultural and political environment.
鈥淲e are in trouble,鈥� he said in reference to redistricting fights on the Voting Rights Act and the rolling back of initiatives.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have, in my opinion, the luxury of not nailing down and working together,鈥� Sharpton said.
Building on decades of local and national activism
Over the years, the NAN headquarters has become a 鈥渃an鈥檛 skip鈥� campaign stop for Democratic candidates seeking everything from the presidency and Congress to state and local offices. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the House of Justice is typically standing room only for the dignitaries who show up.
After the death of his childhood hero James Brown in 2006, the horse drawn carriage carrying the Godfather of Soul鈥檚 golden casket stopped outside NAN鈥檚 145th Street headquarters.
The organization鈥檚 weekly Saturday rallies have also been a venue for families grieving loss through police violence, or for celebrities to speak out and unfairness in the entertainment industry.
Ashley Sharpton, the youngest of the reverend鈥檚 two daughters, grew up around the House of Justice. She and her older sister, Dominique Sharpton-Bright, were there on the day the late pop icon Michael Jackson visited and spoke at the invitation of their dad.
鈥淭he magic was palpable,鈥� Ashley recalled.
Now, as founder and director of NAN鈥檚 youth initiatives, Ashley feels deeper stake in the organization鈥檚 future.
鈥淚t鈥檚 time for us to step in and take ownership, literally, of what is needed to maintain the legacy, and to continue the fight,鈥� she told the AP.
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Morrison is AP鈥檚 race and ethnicity news editor.
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