Ada Sharpton, the 87-year-old mother of the Reverend Al Sharpton, passed away early this Thursday morning in Dothan, Alabama. At about 6:15 a.m. the Reverend posted a tweet stating, “My mother, Ada Sharpton passed in the early hours of this morning. She was my all. I hope God will give her now, PEACE. I love you, Mom.”
Sharpton’s mother reportedly died after a long struggle with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Sharpton’s spokeswoman, Rachel Noerdlinger, says that he will fly to Dothan this evening following another rally for Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. Martin’s parents recently attended a New York City March on Wednesday evening in protest of the death of their son by a neighborhood watch captain.
Noerdlinger says Sharpton learned of his mother’s death upon boarding his flight to Florida this morning. He also shared a tweet insisting that his Mom would have wanted him to go. After this evening’s rally, Sharpton will head to Alabama to make funeral arrangements.
Sharpton is currently the host of MSNBC’s PoliticsNation and heads the National Action Network, a civil rights organization based in New York City.