Civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton said his work 30 years ago as an FBI informant tells today's youth to "do the right thing."
"I can say to kids, look, whether they castigate you or not, do the right thing," Sharpton told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday.
"If somebody comes after you, if somebody's doing guns, or somebody's doing drugs, you're not a snitch to talk about it. You're not their partner. Partners snitch on each other. You're their victim," he added.
Sharpton went undercover as "Confidential Informant No. 7" aiding the FBI during the 1980s to extract information about mobsters in the music industry, according to the
The Smoking Gun website.
Sharpton, now host of
MSNBC's "PoliticsNation," said he approached government officials to inform them about "mobsters who threatened me" when he attempted to help black musicians earn more money.
"Nobody denies those guys . . . came and threatened us 30 years ago. No one denies the fact," Sharpton said.
Through his undercover work, Sharpton said he did "succeed in getting some of the concert promoters." He emphasized his work with the FBI was as an outsider.
"The code is for those in the code. I'm a preacher. I'm not a gangster," he said.
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