The Reverend

Eli Saslow has written a fascinating Washington Post profile of Al Sharpton. An excerpt:

Al Sharpton had not made news for 13 hours, and this was cause for serious concern. He climbed into the back seat of his luxury SUV, told his driver to take him four blocks to Times Square and refreshed the news feed on his cellphone. “Seriously? Nothing on Ferguson?” he said. “Nothing about my statement on good policing?” His power depended in part on publicity; the civil rights movement depended in part on his power. He ran a comb through his hair and dialed one of his assistants. “If we lose this spotlight, then our whole opportunity here, our historic moment — it’s dead,” he said.