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Charles "Poppy" Sharp was a militant activist who made his way into the political scene during the racial turmoil of the late 1960's into the '70's. He started a militant black power group called BPUM in 1966 after hearing a provocative speech by H. Rap Brown. BPUM was a group dedicated to the betterment of black people's lives in Camden by any means necessary. He, and many members of BPUM were arrested many times due to their various altercations with Camden police. BPUM was involved in many things including opening up a garment factory in 1968 to running daycare centers today. During the years he was fighting, Sharp was also running for various positions in the local government. He also worked as an aide to a City Councilman, in the Department of Human Services, and the Camden City Department of Utilities before retiring in 1994.

Sharp was born and raised in Camden, NJ and was the son of a Baptist minister. From a young age, Sharp had issues with law enforcement. He dropped out of school at 14 and became a street hustler, mostly selling guns and drugs. He had the opportunity to hear H. Rap Brown give a speech at the convention center on August 30, 1967 when he was released from jail. Sharp felt the words were meant specifically for him. After the speech that night, he went to a local bar, picked up the microphone, and gave a moving speech. The group, Black Believers of Knowledge, was created on the spot.

Sharp took a few days to consult with Walter Palmer, a militant leader who had his own black-power group in Philadelphia. When he came back, he had renamed the group the Black People's Unity Movement, BPUM, and had a plan for action. BPUM was dedicated to furthering the lives, social statuses, and general feelings of the black community, which Sharp called the, "Black Colony," by any and all means necessary. BPUM was made up of mostly the younger generation, children still in high school, and some of the members of the NAACP Youth Corps. Sharp did a lot of recruiting outside of high schools. Friends of the BPUM was led by Sam Appel and they were white people who believed in using their privilege to make a difference for the minority community.

He, and BPUM marched, staged protests, and started riots when they felt something needed to be changed. They also held meetings with city officials, and crashed them if they deemed it necessary. In May 1968, a poor black family had been displaced for the newest urban renewal project and had nowhere to live. Sharp and one hundred angry residents crashed a Camden Housing Authority meeting they find the family a place to live. The place they came up with was dilapidated and unlivable, so Sharp and BPUM, along with Friends of the BPUM went to Northgate, which was a luxury apartment building, and threatened to burn it down if they didn't find the family somewhere better to live, which they did. There were some prominent members of the black community who were unhappy with the way Sharp and BPUM were going about things. They refused to support him in anything unless he took a more non-violent route. However, when the police started harassing Sharp and other various members of BPUM, such as arresting Sharp for cursing, and spying on them during their leisure time, they soon softened up a little towards them.

In August 1968, a civil suit was levied against Appel and William Repsher of Friends of the Black People's Unity Movement by Mayor Pierce and Police Chief Harold Melleby with the charges conducting unlawful assemblies and inciting others to violence. What brought the suit about was a demonstration that was attended by approximately two hundred, mostly suburban whites who spent the weekend role playing police violence towards them as told by two spies from the Camden County Conservative Club and a George Wallace political organization. When it became clear the charges were trumped up, Pierce and Melleby asserted that the group was inspired by Communism and wanted to spread discord and disobedience as opposed to solving problems. The judge decided that the demonstrations were a reaction to the plight of Camden and understandable.

On September 2, 1969, a grand jury indicted Appel and Repsher. A riot occurred afterwards, but there were differing accounts. The police stated that they were attacked by a teenage girl with a knife, but the girl's father said that three officers attacked both of his girls with billy clubs. Shots were eventually fired and a police officer, and a bypasser were both killed. The day after the violence, a raid was ordered on BPUM's headquarters where they stated they recovered 43 packets of heroin. Sharp was arrested, but let go 90 days later because the court threw out preliminary evidence against him.

Peter O'Connor was a young white lawyer who worked for the Camden Legal Services office. He started working on doing what he could to overturn the urban renewal plan the city was working on. He was also right there to legally assist Sharp as soon as he needed it after his arrest. He filed civil lawsuits, first with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and then with the U.S. District Court when HUD secretary refused a full hearing, against the city claiming that Camden was attempting to, "remove the minority groups from the city through demolition of housing and ultimately to bring back the suburban white population to live in luxury housing." The Camden Civil Rights Coalition, Poppy Sharp, and a number of other Camden residents who were displaced by the renewal policies were the plaintiffs of the lawsuit filed against Camden. The court decided to rule in favor of the plaintiffs and order redevelopment to stop.

On July 20, 1971, Horacio Jiminez, a Puerto Rican motorist was beaten into a coma by two Camden patrolmen. Police Chief Melleby and Mayor Joesph Nardi decided against taking any action against the patrolmen, which resulted in a protest forming in front of City Hall on August 19. Among the crowd were the Young Lords' Gualberto Medina, and Poppy Sharp. Nardi finally agreed to meet with them, but a fight broke out before it began, which brought on 3 nights of rioting.