Kenneth Sharpton-Glasgow, an activist from Alabama, fought for 30 years to let people with felony backgrounds vote.
But that was before he went to federal jail for 11 months on charges of tax evasion and drug distribution. There, he was locked up with men who had rioted at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
At this point, Trump is running for president, and he has 34 felonies, Sharpton-Glasgow told AL.com over the phone from his car after getting out of jail. “That makes me wonder: Is that God smiling at me?”
This week, Sharpton-Glasgow got out of prison and told AL.com that he sees a new chance this election year: the chance to make the issue of felony disenfranchisement a bipartisan one, since former President Trump (a Republican) and Hunter Biden (the son of Democratic President Joe Biden) are both Americans who have been convicted of felonies.
The man in question is 59 years old and has only ever used the last name, Glasgow. An important politician, Rev. Al Sharpton, is his half-brother. He has lived in Dothan most of his life, though, since his mother, Tina Glasgow, moved there when he was a child.
In 1964, Rev. Al Sharpton was born to Al Sharpton, Sr. and Ada Sharpton. Tina Glasgow, Ada’s teenage daughter from a previous marriage, moved in with the family and got pregnant with Kenneth Glasgow, Al Sharpton, Sr.
Because of that background, Sharpton-Glasgow has a tough time with his name. On his birth document, his name was written as Kenneth Sharpton, but people called him Glasgow. He said that after his brother was stabbed at a protest in New York City, he used his mother’s name to keep from getting hurt again.
ProPublica says Sharpton-Glasgow came up with the idea for TOPS (The Ordinary People Society) while he was in prison in Florida for 14 years on drug charges. During that time, he studied religion, became a Christian, and came up with the name for the group. After getting out of prison in 2001, he went back to Dothan to work as a preacher and community activist. He worked on helping people who were in jail and people who were involved in the drug trade.
In Alabama, Sharpton-Glasgow worked on several campaigns to get convicts their voting rights back. In 2017, a bill was passed that let many people convicted of drug crimes vote again. In Florida, he also helped get people who had been convicted of crimes registered to vote.
But in 2018, things changed in his life. Glasgow was helping someone find their stolen car when it showed up again and hit the car Glasgow was driving. As the woman drove his stolen car, the passenger jumped out and shot her.
Glasgow was caught and charged with capital murder, even though he didn’t fire the shots. Glasgow said he didn’t know that his partner was going to shoot someone. The charges were dropped after almost three years.
Sharpton-Glasgow was found guilty of tax fraud and drug charges in 2023. Federal prosecutors said he bought things for himself with more than $1 million that had been given to his nonprofit organization. They also said he didn’t file his taxes and tried to get disability benefits even though he was healthy enough to work.
In August 2023, he went to federal jail. He said that it was very different from his time in Florida state jail. There was more money and less bloodshed. He and some other prisoners worked on a plan to get prisoners registered to vote.
She said, “In federal prison if they have a crime that doesn’t involve moral turpitude, they can vote.”
Sharpton-Glasgow is still working on the same problems he did before he went to jail, but he also wants to start over when he gets out. Part of that is changing the name.
In a letter from jail, his 97-year-old father, Al Sharpton, Sr., asked him to change his name back to Sharpton as his last wish.
In a letter given to AL.com, Al Sharpton, Sr. said, “One thing that has always hurt me is that no one could see your great accomplishments as belonging to the Sharpton family.”
After the last seven years of trouble, Sharpton-Glasgow said the letter seemed like a sign. But he also wanted to keep his mother’s name because she went through so much to keep and raise him.
Sharpton-Glasgow said, “If we look at Biblical history, whenever God touched, saved, or raised someone from the dead, he gave them a new name.” “Or called them something else.” Or had something added to their name. That’s exactly what’s going on with me.
He will stay at the halfway house until the court tells him he can go back to Dothan. He’s going to stick to teaching and stop running The Ordinary People Society. His work will always be about people who are on the edges.
Shadrach-Glasgow said, “Paul wrote two-thirds of the New Testament while he was in prison.” “Jesus was put to death and went to prison.” Paul sent a letter from jail. In jail, people are still people.
