Barack addresses Sharpton's group

Senator Barack Obama wooed black voters and Al Sharpton's endorsement at the ninth convention of Sharpton's National Action Network in Manhattan.

Obama told the audience that blacks had to bear some blame for making the same type of insulting comments used by fired shock radio host Don Imus. “All of us have been complicit in diminishing ourselves, and engaging in the kind of self hatred that keeps our young men and young women down. That’s something we have to talk about in this election.”

Sharpton is expected to make his endorsement in a few weeks.

On the other side of the city in Brooklyn, lawmakers Hakeem Jeffries and Karim Camara from the Assembly, and State Senator Eric Adams formed a coalition that is expected to back Obama's candidacy.