Who is popular today?

The civil rights activist, who recently found himself at the sharp end of the president’s tweets, discusses his history with Trump and the recent mass gun violence
Among the many framed mementoes that clutter the white vinyl walls of the Rev Al Sharpton’s midtown Manhattan office, there is one he treasures just a little more than the others. It’s an official program for the state memorial service held for Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg back in 2013.
Sharpton, the American civil rights stalwart, had been unable to travel to the event in person, and received a copy in the mail signed by a close friend. Across the program’s gold lettering, a short message is scrawled in thin black marker: “To Rev Sharpton – A fellow warrior for justice!” The signature is Barack Obama’s, who back on that wet December day gave a speech in honor of Mandela that framed his legacy and post-apartheid reconciliation as a clarion call for global justice and peace. Continue reading...